A gE-negative BHV1 vaccine virus strain cannot perpetuate in cattle populations

Three identical transmission experiments were successively performed to quantitatively evaluate the possible transmission of a gE-negative bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV1) vaccine strain among cattle. After intranasal inoculation, the vaccine virus was excreted in high titers in nasal fluids. However, the vaccine virus was transmitted to only one sentinel in one experiment, and not to any of the 10 sentinel cattle in the other two experiments. Based on these observations, it can be concluded that the expected number of cases per vaccine-inoculated animal, i.e. the transmission ratio R(0) of the vaccine strain, is significantly below 1. The R(0) was estimated to be 0.14. After intramuscular inoculation, shedding of vaccine virus was not detected. Therefore, we concluded that it is highly unlikely that this live gE-negative BHV1 vaccine strain will perpetuate in the cattle population.