AUTHOR=Wang Tongtong , Hu Leyu , Liu Mengyuan , Wang Tianjiao , Hu Xinyao , Li Ying , Liu Wenqiang , Li Yubao , Wang Yonghui , Ren Huiying , Zhang Wei , Wang Changfa , Li Liangliang TITLE=The Emergence of Viral Encephalitis in Donkeys by Equid Herpesvirus 8 in China JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology VOLUME=13 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.840754 DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2022.840754 ISSN=1664-302X ABSTRACT=

The equine herpesvirus type 8 (EHV-8) can cause significant economic losses in the global horses and donkey industry. The disease has been associated with abortion and respiratory symptoms. However, it is rare for a study to be reported about donkeys with neurological diseases induced by EHV-8 infection. In the present study, one 2-year-old male donkey, from a large-scale donkey farm in China, died with a severe neurological disorder. The causative agent, donkey/Shandong/10/2021 (GenBank accession: OL856098), was identified and isolated from the brain tissue of the dead donkey. Meanwhile, BALB/c mice were used as an animal model to evaluate the pathogenicity of the EHV-8 isolate. Our data showed that EHV-8 was positive in brains by PCR and immunohistochemistry, which induced typical viral encephalitis lesions in both donkey and mice consistent with clinical signs. For the first time, we reported that EHV-8 had been isolated from donkeys with a neurological illness in China, which is helpful to reveal the pathogenicity of EHV-8 in the donkey.