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Boonprasert K, Srivorakul S, Monchaivanakit N, Langkaphin W, Sripiboon S, Janyamethakul T, Srisa-ad C, Guntawang T, Brown JL, Thitaram C, Pringproa K. Characterizations of Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus Type 1A and 4 Co-Infections in Asian Elephant ( Elephas maximus) Calves. Vet Sci 2024; 11:147. [PMID: 38668415 PMCID: PMC11055005 DOI: 10.3390/vetsci11040147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2024] [Revised: 03/16/2024] [Accepted: 03/18/2024] [Indexed: 04/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Three cases of double infection with elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) types 1A and 4 in captive Asian elephants are presented. The first calf was a 4-year-old female that showed initial signs of lethargy and depression. The second calf was a 6-year-old female that displayed signs of depression and diarrhea and died within 48 h of the start of supportive treatment. The third was a 2-year-old male that died suddenly while living with the herd. Necropsies were performed in the first and second elephants, while only a tongue sample was collected from the third calf. EEHV infection was confirmed via quantitative PCR (qPCR) and gene sequencing, revealing double subtypes of EEHV1A and -4 infections. This study describes the hematological and pathological characteristics within the host following double EEHV infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Khajohnpat Boonprasert
- Elephant Hospital, National Elephant Institute, Forest Industry Organization, Lampang 52190, Thailand
- Center of Elephant and Wildlife Health, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50100, Thailand
| | - Saralee Srivorakul
- Center of Veterinary Diagnostic and Technology Transfer, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50100, Thailand
| | - Natcha Monchaivanakit
- Elephant Hospital, National Elephant Institute, Forest Industry Organization, Lampang 52190, Thailand
| | - Warangkhana Langkaphin
- Elephant Hospital, National Elephant Institute, Forest Industry Organization, Lampang 52190, Thailand
| | - Supaphen Sripiboon
- Department of Large Animal and Wildlife Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kasetsart University, Kamphaeng Saen Campus, Nakornpathom 73140, Thailand
| | | | | | - Thunyamas Guntawang
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50100, Thailand
| | - Janine L. Brown
- Center for Species Survival, Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, 1500 Remount Rd., Front Royal, VA 22630, USA
| | - Chatchote Thitaram
- Center of Elephant and Wildlife Health, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50100, Thailand
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50100, Thailand
- Elephant, Wildlife and Companion Animal Research Group, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50100, Thailand
| | - Kidsadagon Pringproa
- Center of Elephant and Wildlife Health, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50100, Thailand
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50100, Thailand
- Elephant, Wildlife and Companion Animal Research Group, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50100, Thailand
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Hoornweg TE, Schaftenaar W, Rutten VPMG, de Haan CAM. Low gH/gL (Sub)Species-Specific Antibody Levels Indicate Elephants at Risk of Fatal Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus Hemorrhagic Disease. Viruses 2024; 16:268. [PMID: 38400043 PMCID: PMC10892434 DOI: 10.3390/v16020268] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2024] [Revised: 02/02/2024] [Accepted: 02/03/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Elephant endotheliotropic herpesviruses (EEHVs), of which eleven (sub)species are currently distinguished, infect either Asian (Elephas maximus) or African elephants (Loxodonta species). While all adult elephants are latently infected with at least one EEHV (sub)species, young elephants, specifically those with low to non-detectable EEHV-specific antibody levels, may develop fatal hemorrhagic disease (EEHV-HD) upon infection. However, animals with high antibody levels against EEHV(1A) gB, an immunodominant antigen recognized by antibodies elicited against multiple (sub)species, may also occasionally succumb to EEHV-HD. To better define which animals are at risk of EEHV-HD, gB and gH/gL ELISAs were developed for each of the Asian elephant EEHV subspecies and assessed using 396 sera from 164 Asian elephants from European zoos. Antibody levels measured against gB of different (sub)species correlated strongly with one another, suggesting high cross-reactivity. Antibody levels against gH/gL of different subspecies were far less correlated and allowed differentiation between these (sub)species. Importantly, while high gB-specific antibody levels were detected in the sera of several EEHV-HD fatalities, all fatalities (n = 23) had low antibody levels against gH/gL of the subspecies causing disease. Overall, our data indicate that (sub)species-specific gH/gL ELISAs can be used to identify animals at risk of EEHV-HD when infected with a particular EEHV (sub)species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tabitha E. Hoornweg
- Section of Virology, Division Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Biomolecular Health Sciences, Utrecht University, 3584 CL Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Section of Immunology, Division Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Biomolecular Health Sciences, Utrecht University, 3584 CL Utrecht, The Netherlands;
| | | | - Victor P. M. G. Rutten
- Section of Immunology, Division Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Biomolecular Health Sciences, Utrecht University, 3584 CL Utrecht, The Netherlands;
- Faculty of Veterinary Science, Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort 0110, South Africa
| | - Cornelis A. M. de Haan
- Section of Virology, Division Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Biomolecular Health Sciences, Utrecht University, 3584 CL Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Hoornweg TE, Perera VP, Karunarathne RN, Schaftenaar W, Mahakapuge TA, Kalupahana AW, Rutten VP, de Haan CA. Young elephants in a large herd maintain high levels of elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus-specific antibodies and do not succumb to fatal haemorrhagic disease. Transbound Emerg Dis 2022; 69:e3379-e3385. [PMID: 35757981 PMCID: PMC9796006 DOI: 10.1111/tbed.14644] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2022] [Revised: 06/23/2022] [Accepted: 06/24/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Elephant endotheliotropic herpesviruses (EEHVs) have co-existed with elephants for millions of years, yet may cause fatal haemorrhagic disease (EEHV-HD), typically in elephants between 1 and 10 years of age. EEHV is omnipresent in (sub)adult elephants, and young elephants with low EEHV-specific antibody levels are at risk for EEHV-HD, suggesting that fatal disease may occur due to an insufficiently controlled primary infection. To further address this hypothesis, sera of three large elephant cohorts were subjected to a multiple EEHV species ELISA: (I) 96 Asian elephants between 0 and 57 years, including 13 EEHV-HD fatalities, from European zoo herds typically sized five to six elephants, (II) a herd of 64 orphaned elephants aged 0-15 years at the Elephant Transit Home in Sri Lanka and (III) 31 elephants aged 8-63 years, part of a large herd of 93 elephants at Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, Sri Lanka. All Sri Lankan elephants showed high EEHV-specific antibody levels regardless of their age. While antibody levels of most European zoo elephants were comparable to those of Sri Lankan elephants, the average antibody level of the European juveniles (1-5 years of age) was significantly lower than those of age-matched Sri Lankan individuals. Moreover, the European juveniles showed a gradual decrease between 1 and 4 years of age, to be attributed to waning maternal antibodies. Maintenance of high levels of antibodies in spite of waning maternal antibodies in young Sri Lankan elephants is likely due to the larger herd size that increases the likelihood of contact with EEHV-shedding elephants. Together with the observation that low levels of EEHV-specific antibodies correlate with increased numbers of EEHV-HD fatalities, these results suggest that infection in presence of high maternal antibody levels may protect calves from developing EEHV-HD, while at the same time activating an immune response protective in future encounters with this virus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tabitha E. Hoornweg
- Section of VirologyDivision Infectious Diseases and ImmunologyFaculty of Veterinary MedicineDepartment of Biomolecular Health SciencesUtrecht UniversityUtrechtThe Netherlands,Section of ImmunologyDivision Infectious Diseases and ImmunologyFaculty of Veterinary MedicineDepartment of Biomolecular Health SciencesUtrecht UniversityUtrechtThe Netherlands
| | - Vijitha P. Perera
- Department of Wildlife Conservation, Elephant Transit HomeUdawalaweSri Lanka
| | | | - Willem Schaftenaar
- Veterinary Advisor EAZA Elephant TAGRotterdam ZooRotterdamThe Netherlands
| | - Thilini A.N. Mahakapuge
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal ScienceDepartment of Veterinary PathobiologyUniversity of PeradeniyaPeradeniyaSri Lanka
| | - Anil. W. Kalupahana
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal ScienceDepartment of Veterinary PathobiologyUniversity of PeradeniyaPeradeniyaSri Lanka
| | - Victor P.M.G. Rutten
- Section of ImmunologyDivision Infectious Diseases and ImmunologyFaculty of Veterinary MedicineDepartment of Biomolecular Health SciencesUtrecht UniversityUtrechtThe Netherlands,Faculty of Veterinary ScienceDepartment of Veterinary Tropical DiseasesUniversity of PretoriaOnderstepoortSouth Africa
| | - Cornelis A.M. de Haan
- Section of VirologyDivision Infectious Diseases and ImmunologyFaculty of Veterinary MedicineDepartment of Biomolecular Health SciencesUtrecht UniversityUtrechtThe Netherlands
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Jesus SA, Schmidt A, Fickel J, Doherr MG, Boonprasert K, Thitaram C, Sariya L, Ratanakron P, Hildebrandt TB. Assessing Coagulation Parameters in Healthy Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) from European and Thai Populations. Animals (Basel) 2022; 12:ani12030361. [PMID: 35158684 PMCID: PMC8833339 DOI: 10.3390/ani12030361] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2021] [Revised: 01/14/2022] [Accepted: 01/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The Asian elephant population is continuously declining due to several extrinsic reasons in their range countries, but also due to diseases in captive populations worldwide. One of these diseases, the elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) hemorrhagic disease, is very impactful because it particularly affects Asian elephant calves. It is commonly fatal and presents as an acute and generalized hemorrhagic syndrome. Therefore, having reference values of coagulation parameters, and obtaining such values for diseased animals in a very short time, is of great importance. We analyzed prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), and fibrinogen concentrations using a portable and fast point-of-care analyzer (VetScan Pro) in 127 Asian elephants from Thai camps and European captive herds. We found significantly different PT and aPTT coagulation times between elephants from the two regions, as well as clear differences in fibrinogen concentration. Nevertheless, these alterations were not expected to have biological or clinical implications. We have also sequenced the coagulation factor VII gene of 141 animals to assess the presence of a previously reported hereditary coagulation disorder in Asian elephants and to investigate the presence of other mutations. We did not find the previously reported mutation in our study population. Instead, we discovered the presence of several new single nucleotide polymorphisms, two of them being considered as deleterious by effect prediction software.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sónia A. Jesus
- Department of Reproduction Management, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, 10315 Berlin, Germany;
- Correspondence:
| | - Anke Schmidt
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, 10315 Berlin, Germany; (A.S.); (J.F.)
| | - Jörns Fickel
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, 10315 Berlin, Germany; (A.S.); (J.F.)
- Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
| | - Marcus G. Doherr
- Institute for Veterinary Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Freie Universität, 14163 Berlin, Germany;
| | - Khajohnpat Boonprasert
- Center of Elephant and Wildlife Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50100, Thailand; (K.B.); (C.T.)
| | - Chatchote Thitaram
- Center of Elephant and Wildlife Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50100, Thailand; (K.B.); (C.T.)
| | - Ladawan Sariya
- The Monitoring and Surveillance Center for Zoonotic Diseases in Wildlife and Exotic Animals, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Mahidol University, Nakhon Pathom 73170, Thailand;
| | - Parntep Ratanakron
- Faculty of Veterinary Science and Applied Zoology, Chulabhorn Royal Academy, Bangkok 10210, Thailand;
| | - Thomas B. Hildebrandt
- Department of Reproduction Management, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, 10315 Berlin, Germany;
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität, 14163 Berlin, Germany
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