Fatal elephant

endotheliotropic herpesvirus type 5 infection in a captive Asian elephant The purpose of this letter is to draw urgent attention to a case of fatal haemorrhagic disease attributable to elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus type 5 (eehV-5) infection in a captive Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), as a prelude to more detailed reports of the clinical and pathological findings (in preparation). The affected animal was a 20-month-old captive-bred Asian elephant born and living at a collection in the UK within a herd of four adult female Asian elephants. It developed a rapidly progressive disease characterised by severe oedema, haemorrhage of mucosal membranes and cyanosis. Treatment followed protocols for extensive antiviral and supportive therapy and included drainage of the pericardial effusion under ultrasonographic guidance. Despite all efforts, the health of the animal deteriorated necessitating euthanasia. Postmortem findings were consistent with previously reported fatal cases of eehV, revealing marked oedema and multiorgan haemorrhages (Fig 1). histologically, typical intraendothelial herpesviral inclusion bodies were present in the heart, liver, adrenal glands and lung, consistent with a diagnosis of acute eehV infection. The presence of the eehV-5 nucleic acid was initially detected at the AhVLA – Weybridge, using both published and unpublished PCR methods, and results were additionally confirmed by the National elephant herpesvirus Laboratory (Latimer and others 2011). Both laboratories sequenced several gene fragments that were consistent with those of eehV-5 (Latimer and others 2011). All samples tested negative for eehV-1 using a realtime TaqMan PCR, a realtime PCR using Sybr Green and a conventional nested eehV-1 PCR (Stanton and others 2010, Latimer and others 2011, hardman and others 2012). herpesviruses in elephants were first described in 1971 in pulmonary nodules of African elephants (Loxodonta africana) (McCully and others 1971). In 1995, further molecular work placed these viruses in the Betaherpesvirinae subfamily (Richman and others 1999). To date, seven distinct elephant endotheliotropic betaherpesviruses (eehVs) and six further elephant gammaherpesviruses (eGhVs) have been detected and characterise