A novel and highly divergent Canine Distemper Virus lineage causing distemper in ferrets in Australia

Authors:

• George, Ankita M.
• Wille, Michelle
• Wang, Jianning
• Anderson, Keith
• Cohen, Shari
• Moselen, Jean
• Lee, Leo Y.Y.
• Suen, Willy W.
• Bingham, John
• Dalziel, Antonia E.
• Whitney, Paul
• Stannard, Harry
• Hurt, Aeron C.
• Williams, David T.
• Deng, Yi-Mo
• Barr, Ian G.

Details:

Virology, Volume 576, 2022-11-30

Article Link: Click here

Canine distemper virus (CDV) causes a highly contagious systemic infection in an array of animal species. In this study we report an outbreak of distemper in ferrets in two research facilities in Australia, caused by a novel lineage of CDV. While the CDV strain caused mainly mild symptoms in ferrets, histopathology results presented a typical profile of distemper pathology, with multi-system virus replication. Through the development of a discriminatory PCR, paired with full genome sequencing, we revealed that the outbreak was caused by a novel lineage of CDV. The novel CDV lineage was highly divergent, with less than 93% similarity across the H gene to other described lineages, including the vaccine strain, and diverged approximately 140–400 years ago. Enhanced surveillance to determine the prevalence of CDV in ferrets, dogs and other at-risk species is critical to better understand the presence and diversity of CDV in Australia currently.