To study the relationships between herpesvirus recently isolated from different pinniped species, antigenic and genetic analyses were performed. First, herpesviruses isolated from North American harbour seals (Phoca vitulina), a Californian sea lion (Zalophus californianus) and a European grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) were examined in an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) with a panel of monoclonal anti...

BACKGROUND Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is a feline coronavirus-induced fatal disease in domestic and wild cats. Cellular immunity is considered to play an important role in the prevention of FIP. Thus, induction of the cellular immune response is essential in vaccines against FIP virus (FIPV) infection. METHODS We immunized cats with peptides containing T-helper (Th)1 epitopes derived...

Alcelaphine herpesvirus type 1, a rhadinovirus causing malignant catarrhal fever of ruminants, has an 1959 nucleotide open reading frame with significant homologies to semaphorin genes. While truncated genes of similar structure have been found in poxviruses, this is the first known example of a semaphorin-like gene in a herpesvirus.