Borna disease: current knowledge and virus detection in France

For over two centuries, Borna disease (BD) has been described as a sporadically occurring infectious meningoencephalomyelitis affecting horses and sheep in Central Europe. Over the last decade, the BD epidemiology has been discussed. Firstly, its geographical distribution seems larger than what was previously thought. Secondly, the disease can affect a large number of warm-blooded animal species, including humans. The aetiological agent is the Boma disease virus (BDV), an enveloped, nonsegmented negative-stranded RNA virus classified in the new virus family Bornaviridae (Mononegavirales order). It can induce severe clinical signs of encephalitis with striking behavioural disturbances and may cause death. BDV genome has recently been detected in France in the blood and brain of several animal species (horses, bovines, foxes).