Abstract
In recent years, an alarming number of cases of lethal acute hemorrhagic disease have occurred in Asian elephant calves raised in logging camps in Myanmar. To determine whether these deaths were associated with infection by elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV), we conducted diagnostic PCR subtype DNA sequencing analysis on necropsy tissue samples collected from 3 locations. We found that EEHV DNA from 7 PCR loci was present at high levels in all 3 calves and was the same EEHV1A virus type that has been described in North America, Europe, and other parts of Asia. However, when analyzed over 5,610 bp, the strains showed major differences from each other and from all previously characterized EEHV1A strains. We conclude that these 3 elephant calves in Myanmar died from the same herpesvirus disease that has afflicted young Asian elephants in other countries over the past 20 years.
Highlights
In recent years, an alarming number of cases of lethal acute hemorrhagic disease have occurred in Asian elephant calves raised in logging camps in Myanmar
Reid et al [21] reported an EEHV1 DNA–positive case from Cambodia. It was not until Zachariah et al [22] published their results, after setting up a diagnostic PCR DNA laboratory in southern India to examine necropsy tissue collected from young orphan and wild elephants that suddenly died, that the range of the disease and virus became firmly established. These authors initially described 8 lethal cases of hemorrhagic disease associated with EEHV1A and 1 case associated with EEHV1B from India
We evaluated 3 cases of fatal hemorrhagic disease in captive-born E. maximus calves reared in camps in Myanmar
Summary
To determine whether these deaths were associated with infection by elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV), we conducted diagnostic PCR subtype DNA sequencing analysis on necropsy tissue samples collected from 3 locations. In 1990, a brief description of a case of lethal acute hemorrhagic disease in a young Asian circus elephant in Switzerland that apparently involved a previously unknown herpesvirus was reported by Ossent et al [1] It was not until the study of Richman et al [2,3], published in 1999, that this disease was shown to be associated with a novel herpesvirus designated elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) 1 because of detection of nuclear inclusion bodies in damaged vascular endothelial cells in diseased heart and liver tissues. More recent studies have confirmed 2 lethal cases of EEHV1 hemorrhagic disease in Laos [24] and as many as 15 additional cases in Thailand [25,26]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
