Abstract:
Two WC 11 specific DNA fragments, 3 kb and 2 kb in size, respectively, were cloned and evaluated
as probes for their use in diagnostic and epidemiological investigations of malignant catarrhal fever
(MCF). Field specimens including blood, ocular fluid, nasal mucus and urine of blue wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) calves in the Kruger National Park, South Africa, were tested and found positive
for excretion of MCF-virus by slot blot hybridization. In 2 cases MCF-virus DNA was detected in the
urine of the calves. No hybridization was observed with DNA from other bovine herpesviruses.
