The efficiency of the establishment and reactivation of latent infection by bovine herpesviruses types 1 and 5 (BHV-1 and 5) was compared. Calves inoculated intranasally with BHV-1 (SV-265, n=6) or BHV-5 (SV-507, n=6) presented a mild to moderate nasal discharge and shed virus in nasal secretions in titers up to 10(7.81)TCID50/ml (mean tissue culture infectious dose) during an average of 10.5 days (6-15 [BHV-1]) or up to 10(6.7) TCID50/ml during 15.3 days (13-18 [BHV-5]). Dexamethasone administration (Dx; 0.5mg/kg) at day 60pi resulted in reactivation of the infection in all calves. Virus shedding in nasal secretions was detected in titers up to 10(5.5)TCID50/ml during 6 to 9 days (mean: 7.8) in calves inoculated with BHV-1 and in titers up to 10(6.1)TCID50/ml (3 to 12 days, mean: 7.5) in calves inoculated with BHV-5. These results showed that BHV-1 and BHV-5 were capable of establishing and reactivating the latent infection at comparable levels.
bovine herpesvirus type 1; BHV-1; BHV-5; dexamethasone; latent infection
