Quantification of the transmission of bovine herpesvirus 1 among red deer (Cervus elaphus) under experimental conditions

Three inoculated animals in each transmission experiment became infected and none of the contact animals became infected. The one-sided 95% confidence interval for R [0.0-0.94] showed that limited transmission might occur among red deer. Based on these results, we would expect only minor outbreaks of BHV1 to occur in red deer populations. We concluded that BHV1 will probably not survive longer than a few decades (several times the mean deer lifetime) in red deer populations. Consequently, it is not necessary for the eradication of BHV1 in cattle to eradicate BHV1 in red deer populations as well.