Surveillance Of The Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus (Eehv) In Chitwan District, Nepal

Research Article
Arjun Pandit, I. P. Dhakal, Kamal Prasad Gairhe, Hari Bahadur Rana, and Dibesh Karmacharya
DOI: 
xxx-xxxx-xxxx
Subject: 
Agriculture
KeyWords: 
EEHV, Chitwan, Gel electrophoresis, PCR, Prevalence.
Abstract: 

Elephant End otheliotropic Herpes Virus (EEHV) has been proved as the cause for the deaths of at least 80 elephant calves worldwide till 1995, when it was first identified for the first time in North America. The study was conducted in 17 elephants (15 elephant calves and 2 adult), maintained at Chit wan Districts namely Elephant Breeding Centre and hattisar of Chit wan National Park and Gaida Wildlife Camp of Sauraha. From the selected elephants, whole blood sample, conjunctival swab and Buffy coat were collected. The samples were stored in deep freeze until taken to laboratory. DNA was extracted off conjunctiva swab, buffy coat and whole blood sample using QIAGEN Dneasy blood and tissue kit and PCR analysis was performed using 2 genes specific to EEHV, Pan EEHV Pol and EEHV1-U38. Gel electrophoresis was done using 2% agarose gel at 110 V. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 16.0 Version and Microsoft Excel–2007. In the research site, none of the elephants (0%) were infected with EEHV infection at the research period. Though the prevalence rate of EEHV infection is found to be zero in the research site at the research period, there is need for regular monitoring of the disease.