Longitudinal study of Asian elephants, Elephas maximus, indicates intermittent shedding of elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus 1 during pregnancy
Introduction: EEHV-1 is a viral infection of elephants that has been associated with a fatal haemorrhagic syndrome in Asian elephants. Previous studies have suggested that pregnant animals may shed more virus than non-pregnant animals. Methods: This study examined whether pregnancy affected the fre...
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| Format: | Article |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2015
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32104/ |
| _version_ | 1848794336159858688 |
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| author | Bennett, Laura Dunham, Stephen P. Yon, Lisa Chapman, Sarah Kenaghan, Megan Purdie, Laura Tarlinton, Rachael E. |
| author_facet | Bennett, Laura Dunham, Stephen P. Yon, Lisa Chapman, Sarah Kenaghan, Megan Purdie, Laura Tarlinton, Rachael E. |
| author_sort | Bennett, Laura |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Introduction: EEHV-1 is a viral infection of elephants that has been associated with a fatal haemorrhagic syndrome in Asian elephants. Previous studies have suggested that pregnant animals may shed more virus than non-pregnant animals.
Methods: This study examined whether pregnancy affected the frequency or magnitude of shedding of elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus 1 (EEHV1) using Taq man real-time PCR on trunk washes from four female elephants from a UK collection over three time periods between 2011 and 2014. These periods included pregnancies in two animals (period 1 and period 3). Behavioural observations made by keepers were also assessed.
Results: During period 1 there was a high degree of social hierarchical instability which led to a hierarchy change, and was associated with aggressive behaviour. Also during period 1 EEHV-1 shedding was of a higher magnitude and frequency than in the latter two time periods.
Conclusions: These results suggest that there is no clear relationship between shedding and pregnancy, and that behavioural stressors may be related to an increase in EEHV-1 shedding. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:14:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-32104 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:14:34Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-321042020-05-04T17:15:44Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32104/ Longitudinal study of Asian elephants, Elephas maximus, indicates intermittent shedding of elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus 1 during pregnancy Bennett, Laura Dunham, Stephen P. Yon, Lisa Chapman, Sarah Kenaghan, Megan Purdie, Laura Tarlinton, Rachael E. Introduction: EEHV-1 is a viral infection of elephants that has been associated with a fatal haemorrhagic syndrome in Asian elephants. Previous studies have suggested that pregnant animals may shed more virus than non-pregnant animals. Methods: This study examined whether pregnancy affected the frequency or magnitude of shedding of elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus 1 (EEHV1) using Taq man real-time PCR on trunk washes from four female elephants from a UK collection over three time periods between 2011 and 2014. These periods included pregnancies in two animals (period 1 and period 3). Behavioural observations made by keepers were also assessed. Results: During period 1 there was a high degree of social hierarchical instability which led to a hierarchy change, and was associated with aggressive behaviour. Also during period 1 EEHV-1 shedding was of a higher magnitude and frequency than in the latter two time periods. Conclusions: These results suggest that there is no clear relationship between shedding and pregnancy, and that behavioural stressors may be related to an increase in EEHV-1 shedding. BMJ Publishing Group 2015-08-04 Article PeerReviewed Bennett, Laura, Dunham, Stephen P., Yon, Lisa, Chapman, Sarah, Kenaghan, Megan, Purdie, Laura and Tarlinton, Rachael E. (2015) Longitudinal study of Asian elephants, Elephas maximus, indicates intermittent shedding of elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus 1 during pregnancy. Veterinary Record Open, 2 (1). e000088. ISSN 2052-6113 http://vetrecordopen.bmj.com/content/2/1/e000088 doi:10.1136/vetreco-2014-000088 doi:10.1136/vetreco-2014-000088 |
| spellingShingle | Bennett, Laura Dunham, Stephen P. Yon, Lisa Chapman, Sarah Kenaghan, Megan Purdie, Laura Tarlinton, Rachael E. Longitudinal study of Asian elephants, Elephas maximus, indicates intermittent shedding of elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus 1 during pregnancy |
| title | Longitudinal study of Asian elephants, Elephas maximus, indicates intermittent shedding of elephant endotheliotropic
herpesvirus 1 during pregnancy |
| title_full | Longitudinal study of Asian elephants, Elephas maximus, indicates intermittent shedding of elephant endotheliotropic
herpesvirus 1 during pregnancy |
| title_fullStr | Longitudinal study of Asian elephants, Elephas maximus, indicates intermittent shedding of elephant endotheliotropic
herpesvirus 1 during pregnancy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Longitudinal study of Asian elephants, Elephas maximus, indicates intermittent shedding of elephant endotheliotropic
herpesvirus 1 during pregnancy |
| title_short | Longitudinal study of Asian elephants, Elephas maximus, indicates intermittent shedding of elephant endotheliotropic
herpesvirus 1 during pregnancy |
| title_sort | longitudinal study of asian elephants, elephas maximus, indicates intermittent shedding of elephant endotheliotropic
herpesvirus 1 during pregnancy |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32104/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32104/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32104/ |