Seroprevalence of canine herpesvirus in breeding kennels in the Gauteng Province of South Africa

Abstract

Canine herpesvirus (CHV-1) causes neonatal deaths as well as infertility due to embryonal death, abortion and stillbirths in breeding kennels. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of antibodies against canine herpesvirus in the serum of dogs older than 1 year in breeding kennels in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. A serum neutralization test (SNT) and a newly developed enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were used to test the serum samples of 328 dogs in 38 breeding kennels. With SNT as well as ELISA, 22% of sera were positive (P > 0.9). Seventeen kennels (45% of total kennels) each had at least one positive dog on SNT compared with twenty kennels (53% of total kennels) that each had at least one positive dog on ELISA (P = 0.6). The prevalence of positive dogs in positive kennels was 42 ± 26% (n = 17 kennels) for SNT and 39 ± 26% (n = 20 kennels) for ELISA. Pairwise comparison of kennels showed that the prevalence of SNT positive dogs was similar to the prevalence of ELISA positive dogs (P = 0.3, n = 38 kennels). Seroprevalence was independent of age, gender or colony size. This study suggests that canine herpesvirus is sufficiently common in breeding dogs in the Gauteng Province of South Africa to pose a threat to neonatal survival and fertility.