Age-dependent shedding of caprine herpesvirus 2 in goats, the causative agent of malignant catarrhal fever.

In order to investigate the CpHV-2 infection in goat and determine the age at which virus shedding occurs, 195 female goats from four suburbs of Ahvaz were studied. The studied goats were divided into six age groups; 3-<6, 6-<12 months to 1, 2, 3, and ≥ 4 years. Blood and nasal swab samples were taken from each animal, and DNA extraction were performed from buffy coats and swab sample. Semi-nested PCR was used to detect CpHV-2 DNA. The results showed that 63.6% blood samples and 72.8% nasal swabs were positive for CpHV-2. There was a difference between different age groups in terms of CpHv-2 infection of blood and nasal swab samples. While in both samples the lowest rate of infection was in the < 6-month age group, in blood and nasal swab samples the highest rate of infection was in the 1-year-old and 2-year-old age groups, respectively. Regardless of the age of the goats, the agreement between blood infection and nasal swab was 89%. It is concluded that CpHv-2 is excreted from the nose in all age groups of goats, posing a risk of infecting susceptible animals.