The effects of virus-specific antibodies on the replication of bovine respiratory syncytial virus in vitro and on clinical disease and immune responses in lambs

What have we learned from animal studies of immune responses to respiratory syncytial virus infection?

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common cause of severe respiratory tract infection at the extremes of age and in vulnerable populations. However, it is difficult to predict the clinical course and most infants who develop severe disease have no pre-existing risk factors. With the recent licencing of RSV vaccines and monoclonal antibodies, it is important to identify high-risk individuals in order to prioritise those who will most benefit from prophylaxis. The immune response to RSV and the mechanisms by which the virus prevents the establishment of immunological memory have been extensively investigated but remain incompletely characterised. In animal models, beneficial and harmful immune responses have both been demonstrated. While only chimpanzees are fully permissive for human RSV replication, most research has been conducted in rodents, or in calves infected with bovine RSV. Based on these studies, components of innate and adaptive immune systems, cytokines, chemokines and metabolites, and specific genetic and transcriptomic signatures are identified as potential predictive indicators of RSV disease severity. These findings may inform the development of future human studies and contribute to the early identification of patients at high risk of severe infection. This narrative review summarises the factors involved in the immune response to RSV infection in these models and highlights the relationship between potential biomarkers and disease severity.

Acute BRSV infection in young AI bulls: effect on sperm quality

Bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) infection is an important part of the calf pneumonia complex, occasionally affecting even adult cattle. However, the pathogenicity of BRSV in animals older than 6 months is often neglected. Finland is free of many contagious diseases in farm animals, and this gives a good opportunity to study the effects of specific pathogens on bovine reproduction. This report describes the deteriorating effects of BRSV epizootics on sperm morphology and fertility of young dairy bulls (n = 79) at a bull station. More than half of the young bulls had a clinical respiratory disease caused by BRSV during their quarantine when they were 6 months old. Four of seven subsequent quarantine groups were affected. Six months later, when these seropositive bulls (n = 54) came into semen production, they had poorer sperm morphology, and the proportion of normal spermatozoa was 74.1% in BRSV-seropositive animals compared with 81.2% in seronegative bulls (n = 25) (p = 0.035). Field fertility was also slightly affected, the 60-day non-return rates were 75.2% and 76.8% for BRSV seropositive and seronegative bulls respectively (p = 0.014). Potential reasons for lowered sperm quality are discussed here.