Abstract
Extract
Bovine malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) has been reported in New Zealand (MacKinnon and Le Souef, Citation1956) and in other parts of the world (Blood and Henderson, Citation1968). The disease has also been reported in deer in Europe (Huck et al., Citation1961), North America (Pierson et al., Citation1974) and has been seen in New Zealand (G. Shirley, pers. comm.). There is a large amount of epizootiologic evidence that suggests that the causative agent of MCF is transmitted by inapparently infected sheep to cattle (sheep-associated MCF), and that contact spread between cattle does not occur (Plowright, Citation1968). As well as the sheep-associated form of MCF, which is world-wide in distribution. Plowright etal. Citation(1960) have described a wildebeest-associated form of MCF in Africa from which a cell-associated herpes virus has been isolated from wildebeest and affected cattle and used to reproduce the disease in cattle.