Malignant Catarrhal Fever
Last reviewed May 2005
Australian situation
Malignant catarrhal fever is present in Australia.
For general information on managing animal health in Australia, please consult the latest edition of 'Animal Health in Australia'.
This disease is nationally notifiable in Australia. Please consult Australia's Agreed Minimum List of Notifiable Diseases for further information.
Disease summary
Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) is an acute, generalised and usually fatal disease affecting many species of Artiodactyla. The disease has been most often described as affecting species of the subfamily Bovinae and family Cervidae, but is also recognised in domestic pigs as well as giraffe and species of antelope belonging to the subfamily Tragelaphinae. The alcelaphine herpesvirus-1 (AIHV-1), the natural host of which - the wildebeest - is infected inapparently, causes the disease in cattle in regions of Africa and in a variety of ruminant species in zoological collections world-wide. This form is not present in Australia. Ovine herpesvirus-2 (OvHV-2), which is prevalent in all varieties of domestic sheep as a subclinical infection, is the cause of MCF in most regions of the world, including Australia. In both forms of the disease, animals with clinical disease are not a source of infection as virus is only excreted by the natural hosts - wildebeest and sheep, respectively.
MCF usually appears sporadically and affects few animals, though both viruses can give rise to epizootics. There is a marked gradation in susceptibility to the OvHV-2 form of MCF ranging from the relatively resistant Bos taurus and B. indicus, through water buffalo and many species of deer, to the extremely susceptible Père David's deer and Bali cattle. The disease may present a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations ranging from the acute form, when minimal changes are observed prior to death, to the more florid cases characterised by high fever, bilateral corneal opacity, profuse catarrhal discharges from the eye and nares, necrosis of the muzzle and erosion of the buccal epithelium.
World distribution
More information on this OIE-listed disease, including worldwide disease status and distribution, is available on the OIE Website.
Further information
Further information, including publicly available Australian historical data can be obtained by contacting:
Project Manager
Animal Health Australia
Phone: (02) 6203 3912
Fax: (02) 6232 5511
Email: aha@animalhealthaustralia.com.au