Slaughterhouse survey for detection of bovine viral diarrhea infection among beef cattle in Kyushu, Japan

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) footprint has spread across the globe and is responsible for one of the most economically important diseases in cattle. In Japan, some regional surveillance and preventive measures to control bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) have been implemented. However, BVDV infection is poorly understood in cattle industries, and there is no systematic BVD surveillance system and control program. Kyushu is the center for raising beef cattle in Japan. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the BVDV infection using a slaughterhouse survey among beef cattle in Kyushu, Japan. A total of 1,075 blood samples were collected at two regional slaughterhouses in Miyazaki prefecture from December 2015 to June 2016. Antigen ELISA was used for detection of BVDV antigen in blood samples. Two samples showed positive results (2/1,075; 0.18%). BVDV RNA was extracted from positive blood samples; the sequence was determined and analyzed by the neighbor-joining method for construction of the phylogenetic tree. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 5’-UTR revealed that the two positive samples were grouped into the same subtype BVDV-1b in the BVDV-1 genotype, but the infected cattle belonged to two different farms. In conclusion, this is the first study to identify the presence of BVDV in a slaughterhouse survey in Kyushu. These findings suggest that a slaughterhouse survey is a useful tool for developing a surveillance system for monitoring infectious diseases in cattle.