BHV5 MUTANTS

摘要

The invention relates to the field of encephalitis in ruminants. The invention provides a mutant of bovine herpesvirus 5 (BHV5) provided with a functional deletion in each of at least two genes related to the clinical manifestation of neurovirulence upon infection of a host with BHV5. Furthermore, the invention provides a vaccine comprising such a mutant. The invention further provides a method for distinguishing a ruminant infected with a wild-type BHV5 strain or vaccinated against BHV5 from within a population of ruminants vaccinated with a vaccine according to the invention comprising testing a ruminant for the presence or absence of an antibody directed against the glycoprotein I (gI) gene or the glycoprotein E (gE) gene or both.