| Identification and molecular characterization of a rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus variant (KV0801) isolated in Korea |
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Dong-Kun Yang, Byoung-Han Kim, Kyung-Woo Lee, Ji-Yeon Kim, Hee-Jin Kim, Sung-Suk Choi, Ji-Eun Chun, Seong-Wan Son |
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National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service |
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| Abstract |
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Rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD) is caused by RHD virus (RHDV) and is one of the most fatal diseases of rabbits. Acute death of rabbits occurred in a farm located in the Gyeonggi province of South Korea. The virus was isolated and confirmed as RHDV based on reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and hemagglutination assay (HA), and the isolate was designated as KV0801. The nucleotide sequence of the complete VP60 gene of KV0801 was determined and the corresponding amino acid sequence was deduced. Molecular analysis showed that the KV0801 isolate can be classified as a pandemic antigenic variant strain, RHDVa. The VP60 nucleotide sequence and deduced amino acid homology between KV0801 and other Korean isolate, RHF89, which was isolated in 1988, were 92.1 and 94.3%, respectively. The pathogenicity of the KV0801 isolate at an HA titer ranging from 16,384 to 0.16 HA units was evaluated in five-month-old SFP rabbits. The rabbits inoculated with KV0801 isolate containing more than 1.63 HA units died within six days of inoculation. These results suggest that a highly pathogenic RHDVa is circulating in the rabbit populations of Korea. |
| Key Words:
characterization, isolation, Korea, rabbit, RHDV |
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