Recombinant pestivirus E2 glycoproteins prevent viral attachment to permissive and non permissive cells with different efficiency.

Bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) is an economically important animal pathogen, which like other pestiviruses has similar molecular biological features to hepaciviruses, including human Hepatitis C virus. The pestivirus E2 glycoproteins are the major target for virus-neutralising antibodies, as well as playing a role in receptor binding and host range restriction. In this study, recombinant E2 glycoproteins (rE2) derived from three different pestivirus species were examined for their inhibitory effects on pestivirus infectivity in cell culture.

Louping ill virus: an endemic tick-borne disease of Great Britain.

In Europe and Asia, Ixodid ticks transmit tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), a flavivirus that causes severe encephalitis in humans but appears to show no virulence for livestock and wildlife. In the British Isles, where TBEV is absent, a closely related tick-borne flavivirus, named louping ill virus (LIV), is present. However, unlike TBEV, LIV causes a febrile illness in sheep, cattle, grouse and some other species, that can progress to fatal encephalitis.

Development of a real-time PCR to detect Streptococcus equi subspecies equi.

Reasons For Performing Study: Infection with Streptococcus equi subspecies equi (S. equi) is endemic in the UK. A proportion of horses serve as long-term carriers and act as a reservoir of infection.

Increased phylogenetic diversity of bovine viral diarrhoea virus type 1 isolates in England and Wales since 2001.

Currently, there are two recognised genotypes of Bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV), type 1 and type 2. These genotypes are divided into subtypes based on phylogenetic analysis, namely a-p for BVDV-1 and a-c for BVDV-2. Within this study, the genetic heterogeneity of BVDV-1 in England and Wales was investigated and compared to the situation in 1996/1997.