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Pestiviruses isolated from sheep and goats in India thus far have been bovine viral diarrhoea virus 1 (BVDV-1) or BVDV-2. During routine genetic typing of pestiviruses in the years 2009-10, border disease virus (BDV) was detected in eight Indian sheep of a flock showing clinical signs of BD by real time RT-PCR. All the samples yielded positive virus isolates in cell culture but were found negative by a BVDV antigen ELISA. A representative BDV isolate was characterized at genetic and antigenic level. Phylogenetic analysis carried out in 5'-UTR, N(pro) and E2 regions of genome typed the Indian BDV isolate as BDV-3. A more detailed analysis in N(pro) and entire region coding structural proteins showed that the N(pro) (168), C (100 aa), E(rns) (227 aa), E1 (195 aa) and E2 (373 aa) proteins were of size characteristic for BDV reference strain X818. Antigenic differences were evident between the BDV-3 isolate and previously reported BDV-1, BDV-5 and BDV-7 strains. Although origin of BDV-3 in India is not clear, the results reflect probable introduction through trade in sheep between India and other countries or BDV-3 may be more widely distributed. Additionally, this study suggests that for diagnosis of BDV infection, the commercial BVDV Ag-ELISA should be used with caution. This is the first identification of BDV in sheep in India which highlights the need for continued pestivirus surveillance and assessing its impact on sheep and goat production., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This report describes the full-length genome sequence of the pestivirus strain H2121 which was recently isolated from Pyrenean chamois and typed as Border disease virus (BDV) genotype 4. Comparison with full-length genomic sequences of the approved pestivirus species Bovine viral diarrhea virus-1 (BVDV-1), BVDV-2, BDV, and Classical swine fever virus, the tentative species represented by strain Giraffe-1, as well as the atypical pestivirus strain Th/04_KhonKaen confirmed that the chamois pestivirus strain is most similar to BDV. The viral genome of H2121 is 12,305 nucleotides long and contains one large open reading frame. The latter encodes a polyprotein consisting of 3899 amino acids and is flanked with 376 nucleotides long 5' untranslated region (UTR) and 229 nt long 3' UTR. The genome organization of the chamois virus is reminiscent to that of other pestiviruses. Compared to other BDV strains including BDV-1 strain X818 and BDV-2 strain Reindeer-1, the 5' UTR and ORF of the chamois virus are very similar in length, while the 3' UTR of H2121 is 31-44 nucleotides shorter. In contrast to other BDV strains, the genome of the chamois virus contains a unique four amino acid insertion at the N-terminus of NS2., (Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the influence of communal Alpine pasturing on the spread of pestivirus infections among sheep and goats. The study included 481 sheep from 23 farms and 131 goats from 26 farms pastured on separated Alpine meadows in the western part of Austria. At the starting of pasturing on the sheep meadow, 325 (67.6%) animals were seropositive, on the goat meadows in 16 (12.2%) samples antibodies to pestiviruses were detected. At the end of pasturing, 74 seronegative sheep and two seronegative goats had seroconverted. Between the beginning and the end of pasturing the seroprevalence in sheep increased significantly from 67.6% to 83% (P<0.05). Moreover, in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of four sheep, pestivirus-specific RNA was detected before as well as after pasturing; these animals remained serologically negative throughout the investigation. They were, therefore, identified as persistently infected. Sequence analysis in the N(pro) region revealed that the detected pestiviruses were the same at genetic level and they were grouped into the Border disease virus (BDV)-3 genotype. No pestivirus RNA was found in goat samples. The results of this survey indicate that communal Alpine pasturing does play a key role in the spread of BDV. Moreover, BDV has been identified and characterized for the first time in sheep in Austria, which until then had been regarded as being free from BD.

An enteric disease characterised by diarrhoea and ill thrift affected 12 of a flock of 700 six- to 12-month-old ewe lambs in Cornwall between December 1996 and September 1997. The affected lambs were undersized, became thin and suffered an unremitting diarrhoea until they died. The illness lasted for three to 14 days, although, with hindsight, the owner considered that the lambs had been below average size before the enteric signs developed. The outbreak ceased only as a result of the dispersal sale of the flock as breeding ewes. The flock had been purchased from different sources, but 11 of the cases occurred in a group of 40 purchased from one source. Postmortem, the alimentary changes resembled mucosal disease in cattle, and immunostaining of histological sections of the affected tissues revealed pestiviral antigen. Non-cytopathic pestiviruses were isolated from the lesions of two of the affected lambs and from the blood of several clinically normal ewe lambs from the same group. All the pestivirus isolates were typed as Border disease virus.