[Two years BVD ear notch samples diagnostics--results from 16 districts of Lower Saxony]. / Zwei Jahre Bovine Virusdiarrhoe Virus- Ohrstanzprobendiagnostik--Ergebnisse aus 16 Landkreisen Niedersachsens.

Since June 1st 2010 all calves in Lower Saxony are tested by ear notch samples for the presence of Bovine Virus Diarrhea (BVD) Virus based on the Lower Saxony BVDV-regulation. Since January 1st 2011 the new German BVDV-act requires an examination of the calves in the first 6 months of their life. In the Institute for Animal Health of LUFA Nord-West 1000-2000 ear notch samples originating from 16 rural districts are tested daily. In the period from June 1st 2010 to May 31st 2012 a total of 524,214 tissue samples were examined by an antigen ERNS ELISA. In case of low positive results the tests were verified by PCR. 2454 ear notch samples (0.47%) were from persistently with BVDV infected calves (PI-calves) coming from 763 farms (10.2% of the participating farms). In the first seven months of the eradication program 0.75% of the tested samples were positive. This number decreased in the year 2011 to 0.52%. In the first 5 months of 2012, only 0.18% of the ear notch samples tested positive.

Virologic investigations of free-living European bison (Bison bonasus) from the Bialowieza Primeval Forest, Poland.

We conducted virologic investigations on postmortem specimens from 261 free-living European bison (Bison bonasus) from the Bialowieza Primeval Forest, Poland collected between 1990 and 2000. Fifty-four of 94 males had balanoposthitis; none of the 167 female bison examined had reproductive tract lesions. Peripheral blood, swabs, and various tissues were analyzed for bovine viruses as well as for viral DNA by bovine herpesvirus 1 (BoHV-1) and bovine herpesvirus 4 (BoHV-4) specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. An infectious bovine rhinotracheitis like BoHV-1 strain was isolated from the spleen of a female bison calf and additionally was detected by nested PCR from splenic tissue. None of the bison had significant antibody titers against BoHV-1, bovine herpesvirus 2, BoHV-4, caprine herpesvirus 1, cervid herpesvirus 1, or bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) virus-1. However, low antibody titers in two animals indicate that this European bison population has been exposed to BVD virus or BVD-like viruses and BoHV-2.