Viruses related to equine herpesvirus type 1
(EHV-1) were isolated from an aborted fetus of an onager
(Equus hemionus) in 1984, an aborted fetus of Grevy’s
zebra (Equus grevyi) in 1984 and a Thomson’s gazelle
(Gazella thomsoni) with nonsuppurative encephalitis in
1996, all in the USA. The mother of the onager fetus and
the gazelle were kept near plains zebras (Equus burchelli).
In phylogenetic trees based on the nucleotide sequences of
the genes for glycoproteins B (gB), I (gI), and E (gE), and
teguments including ORF8 (UL51), ORF15 (UL45), and
ORF68 (US2), the onager, Grevy’s zebra and gazelle isolates
formed a genetic group that was different from several
horse EHV-1 isolates. Within this group, the onager and
gazelle isolates were closely related, while the Grevy’s
zebra isolate was distantly related to these two isolates. The
epizootiological origin of the viruses is discussed. |
