ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the natural history, epidemiology, and what is known of the disease produced by bovine ephemeral fever virus (BEFV). BEF is a febrile disease of cattle characterized by high morbidity in herds affected, and by low mortality in those animals infected with the disease. Cattle are generally accepted as being the principal hosts for BEFV although other hosts have been suspected for some time. There are a number of pathological findings described for BEFV infection that vary considerably between groups. In 1967, Van der Westhuizen reported adaption of BEFV to 1 to 3-day-old suckling mice. Since isolation of virus in experimental animals is not always practical or possible, a number of groups have investigated the use of cell-culture systems for the primary isolation of BEFV. There appears to be general agreement concerning the intracellular development of BEFV when thin sections of infected cells are examined in the electron micro scope.
