Reactivity and prevalence of neutralizing antibodies against Japanese strains of bovine viral diarrhea virus subgenotypes

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) field isolates show genetic and antigenic diversity. At least 14 subgenotypes of BVDV-1 and 4 of BVDV-2 have been identified in Artiodactyla worldwide. Of these, 6 subgenotypes of BVDV-1 and 1 of BVDV-2 have been isolated in Japan. Previously, we reported that each subgenotype virus expresses different antigenic characteristics. Here we investigated the reactivity of neutralizing antibodies against representative strains of Japanese BVDV subgenotypes using sera from 266 beef cattle to estimate the prevalence of this epidemic virus among cattle in Japan. Antibody titers at concentrations at least 4-fold higher than antibodies against other subgenotype viruses were considered subgenotype specific. Subgenotype-specific antibodies were detected from 117 (80.7%) of 145 sera samples (69.7% against BVDV-1a, 1.4% against BVDV-1b, 8.3% against BVDV-1c, and 1.4% against BVDV-2a). The results suggest that neutralization tests are useful in estimating currently epidemic subgenotypes of BVDV in the field.