Abortion in goats by Caprine alphaherpesvirus 1 in Spain

An abortion outbreak occurred in a goat herd of Murciano-Granadina breed in Almeria Region in Spain where 80 pregnant females aborted. All bacteriological and parasitological examinations resulted negative, whereas virological investigations and real-time PCR assay showed the presence of Caprine alphaherpesvirus 1 DNA in the pathological specimens from aborted foetuses. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed that the DNA was highly close related to the Swiss strain E-CH (99.7%) and a little less extent to the Italian BA.1 strain (99.4%). Histopathological examination revealed multifocal, well-circumscribed, 50- to 200-μm-diameter foci of coagulative necrosis in the liver, lungs and kidneys of three foetuses. In the periphery of the necrosis, there were frequently epithelial cells with the chromatin emarginated by large, round, amphophilic intranuclear viral inclusion bodies. The source of the infection in the herd could not clearly find out even some hypothesis were formulated. This seems to be the first report of an abortion outbreak due to Caprine alphaherpesvirus 1 in a goat herd in Spain.