Novel endotheliotropic herpesviruses fatal for Asian and African elephants

A highly fatal hemorrhagic disease has been identified in 10 young Asian an d African elephants at North American toes. In the affected animals there w as ultrastructural evidence for herpesvirus-like particles in endothelial c ells of the heart, liver, and tongue. Consensus primer polymerase chain rea ction combined with sequencing yielded molecular evidence that confirmed th e presence of two novel but rotated herpesviruses associated with the disea se, one in Asian elephants and another in African elephants. Otherwise heal thy African elephants with external herpetic Lesions yielded herpesvirus se quences identical to that found in Asian elephants with endothelial disease . This finding suggests that the Asian elephant deaths were caused by cross -species infection with a herpesvirus that is naturally latent in, but norm ally not lethal to, African elephants, A reciprocal relationship may exist for the African elephant disease.