Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2024, Vol. 55 ›› Issue (5): 2253-2258.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2024.05.042

• RESEARCH NOTES • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Detection of Feline Herpesvirus Type 1 and Pathogenicity of an Isolated Strain

DENG Gunan1, ZHANG Jiaqi1, BAO Zhipeng4, CHEN Taoyun1, YU Qisheng1, DING Lu1, ZHU Chenxi1, WANG Yi1, REN Yupeng1,2, HE Chao3*, ZHANG Bin1,2*   

  1. 1. College of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu 610041, China;
    2. Key Laboratory of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau Animal Genetic Resource Reservation and Utilization of Ministry of Education/Sichuan Provine, Chengdu 610041, China;
    3. Sichuan Provincial Veterinary Drug Supervision Institute, Chengdu 610041, China;
    4. Yunnan Vocational and Technical College of Agriculture, Kunming 650212, China
  • Received:2023-06-15 Online:2024-05-23 Published:2024-05-27

Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and genetic diversity of feline herpesvirus-1 (FHV-1) in Chengdu city. From 2020 to 2023, a total of 178 conjunctiva, pharynx and nose swabs were collected from cats with respiratory symptoms in Chengdu city. The collected samples were subjected to FHV-1 PCR detection, gE gene genetic evolutionary analysis, viral isolation and identification, as well as pathogenicity. The results showed that, the FHV-1 positivity rate in Chengdu city was 11.8% (21/178). In which the FHV-1 positivity rate of veterinary hospitals was 6.4% (7/110) and 20.6% (14/68) in catteries, suggested that the higher rate of FHV-1 infection was in catteries. The genetic evolutionary analysis of five FHV-1 gE genes showed that the nucleotide homology was 99.1%~100% to the vaccine strains,and three unique amino acid mutation sites were found in PX-9 strain (L259Q, C294I, W295F). Five positive samples were isolated and cultured by CRFK cell, only PX-9 strain was successfully isolated and identified from CRFK cells. The results of animal regression experiment by PX-9 strain showed that all cats in the infected group exhibited clinical symptoms, such as increased ocular, nasal secretions and sneezing. The highest viral load was found on the 4th day after inoculation (9.05×107 copies·μL-1), and the detoxification period is relatively long. The results of FHV-1 viral load were 1.7×107 and 3.5×104 copies·μg-1 in trachea and lungs of infected group, respectively. The other tissues were negative for FHV-1 DNA. The results of this study indicated that FHV-1 was still prevalent in Chengdu and the prevalent strains had highly pathogenicity.

Key words: FHV-1, prevalence, genetic variation, animal regression experiment

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