Latent <i>bovine herpesvirus</i> 1 and 5 in milk from naturally infected dairy cattle

Bovine herpesvirus 1 and 5 (BoHV-1 and -5) are antigenically and genetically related and can establish latent infection. We aimed to analyze the applicability of the milk sample to detect latently BoHV-infected cattle. BoHV-1 non-vaccinated clinically healthy cows from five dairy cattle herds (herd 1, n=24; herd 2, n=39; herd 3, n=39; herd 4, n=36; herd 5, n=70) were studied. We confirmed the presence of BoHV-1, and for the first time, BoHV-5 in the milk of naturally infected dairy cattle.