Abstract
Foamy viruses (FVs) are widely distributed and infect many animal species including non-human primates, horses, cattle, and cats. Several reports also suggest that other species can be FV hosts. Since most of such studies involved livestock or companion animals, we aimed to test blood samples from wild ruminants for the presence of FV-specific antibodies and, subsequently, genetic material. Out of 269 serum samples tested by ELISA with the bovine foamy virus (BFV) Gag and Bet antigens, 23 sera showed increased reactivity to at least one of them. High reactive sera represented 30% of bison samples and 7.5% of deer specimens. Eleven of the ELISA-positives were also strongly positive in immunoblot analyses. The peripheral blood DNA of seroreactive animals was tested by semi-nested PCR. The specific 275 bp fragment of the pol gene was amplified only in one sample collected from a red deer and the analysis of its sequence showed the highest homology for European BFV isolates. Such results may suggest the existence of a new FV reservoir in bison as well as in deer populations. Whether the origin of such infections stems from a new FV or is the result of BFV inter-species transmission remains to be clarified.
Highlights
Foamy viruses (FVs), known as spumaviruses, are the least known subfamily of Retroviridae [1].Some features of their replication pathway and complex genomic organization distinguish them from other retroviruses [2,3]
FVs can be commonly isolated from infected animals, no disease has been associated with infections and, FVs are recognized as apathogenic on their own [17,18]
256 samples were collected from cervids including red deer (Cervus elaphus, n = 134), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus, n = 103), or fallow deer (Dama dama, n = 19), and 13 from free-ranging bovides, the highly endangered European bison (Bison bonasus)
Summary
Foamy viruses (FVs), known as spumaviruses, are the least known subfamily of Retroviridae [1].Some features of their replication pathway and complex genomic organization distinguish them from other retroviruses [2,3]. Foamy viruses (FVs), known as spumaviruses, are the least known subfamily of Retroviridae [1]. FVs can be commonly isolated from infected animals, no disease has been associated with infections and, FVs are recognized as apathogenic on their own [17,18]. This lack of pathogenicity contrasts strongly with the cytopathic effects seen in vitro in infected cell cultures, with the appearance of “foamy-like” syncytia [17,19].
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