Title: Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus-Associated Abortion and Vertical Transmission following Acute Infection in Cattle under Natural Conditions

Abstract

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious and economically important viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals, including domestic and wild host species. During recent FMD outbreaks in India, spontaneous abortions were reported amongst FMD-affected and asymptomatic cows. The current study was an opportunistic investigation of these naturally occurring bovine abortions to assess causality of abortion and vertical transmission of FMDV from infected cows to fetuses. For this purpose, fetal tissue samples of eight abortuses (heart, liver, kidney, spleen, palatine tonsil, umbilical cord, soft palate, tongue, lungs, and submandibular lymph node) were collected and screened by various detection methods, including viral genome detection, virus isolation, and immunomicroscopy. Amongst these cases, gross pathological changes were observed in 3 abortuses. Gross pathological findings included blood-tinged peritoneal and pleural effusions and myocarditis. Hearts of infected calves had mild to moderate degeneration and necrosis of the myocardium with moderate infiltration by mixed inflammatory cells. Localization of FMDV antigen was demonstrated in lungs and soft palate by immunomicroscopy. FMDV serotype O viral genome was recovered from 7 of 8 cases. Infectious FMDV serotype O was rescued by chemical transfection of the total RNA extracted from three soft palate samples and was sequenced to confirm 100% identity ofmore » the VP1 (capsid) coding region with isolates collected from infected cattle during the acute phase of infection. Based upon these findings, it may be concluded that FMDV-associated abortion occurred among the infected pregnant cows included within this study and FMDV was subsequently transmitted vertically to fetuses. This is the first documentation of FMDV-associated abortions in cattle.« less

Authors:

Ranjan, Rajeev ^[1]; Biswal, Jitendra K. ^[1]; Subramaniam, Saravanan ^[1]; Singh, Karam Pal ^[2]; Stenfeldt, Carolina ^[3]; Rodriguez, Luis L. ^[4]; Pattnaik, Bramhadev ^[1]; Arzt, Jonathan ^[5]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. ICAR- Directorate of Foot and Mouth Disease, Mukteshwar, Nainital, Uttarakhand (India)
2. Indian Veterinary Research Inst. (IVRI), Izatnagar, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh (India). Centre for Animal Disease Research and Diagnosis (CADRAD)
3. US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), Greenport, NY (United States). Agricultural Research Service, Plum Island Animal Disease Center, Foreign Animal Disease Research Unit
4. US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), Greenport, NY (United States). Agricultural Research Service, Plum Island Animal Disease Center, Foreign Animal Disease Research Unit; Oak Ridge Inst. for Science and Education (ORISE), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
5. Foreign Animal Disease Research Unit, USDA-ARS, Plum Island Animal Disease Center, Greenport, New York (United States)

Publication Date:

2016-12-15

Research Org.:

US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), Greenport, NY (United States). Agricultural Research Service

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE; USDA

OSTI Identifier:

1378471

Grant/Contract Number:  

1940-32000-057-00D; HSHQDC-12-X-0060

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

PLoS ONE

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 11; Journal Issue: 12; Journal ID: ISSN 1932-6203

Publisher:

Public Library of Science

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES