Seroprevalence of Bovine Herpes Virus 1 (BoHV-1) in breeding bulls in Northeastern Anatolian Region of Turkey

Bovine herpesvirus-1(BoHV-1) is well recognized asa pathogen that infects therespiratoryand reproductivetracts. This study is a serological investigation of BoHV-1 in breeding bulls at 1–5 years of age from small scale family operations in three Northeastern Anatolian provinces (Kars, Ardahan and Igdir) in Turkey. For this purpose, blood was collected from 250 breeding bulls and was tested for antibodies against BoHV-1 using the virus neutralization technique. Out of 250 blood sera samples tested, 110 (44.00%) were detected as positive against to BoHV-1 and antibody titres were found to be varied between 1/2–1/64. Among the controlled regions, the highest seroprevalance of BoHV-1 infection was found in Kars (64.81%) followed byArdahan (30.00%) and Igdir (26.82%) provinces. The results suggested that the infection was spreading in breeding bulls in small scale family operations. This study is the first serological study to determine seroprevalence of BoHV-1 infection in breeding bulls in North-eastern Anatolia region.