Isolation of cervid herpesvirus 1 from the genital tract of a farmed red deer in Northern France

In autumn 2008, several captive red deer in the North of France were found to be serologically positive for a ruminant alphaherpesvirus. A viral isolate obtained from the genital mucosa of a female red deer was characterised by sequencing and restriction endonuclease analyses as a cervid herpesvirus 1 closely related to Scottish Banffshire 82 strain.