Investigation of the presence of human or bovine respiratory syncytial virus in the lungs of mink (Neovison vison) with hemorrhagic pneumonia due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa

BACKGROUND Hemorrhagic pneumonia is a disease of farmed mink (Neovison vison) caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The disease is highly seasonal in Danish mink with outbreaks occurring almost exclusively in the autumn. Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has been shown to augment infection with P. aeruginosa in mice and to promote adhesion of P. aeruginosa to human respiratory cells. FINDINGS We tested 50 lung specimens from mink with hemorrhagic pneumonia for bovine RSV by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and for human RSV by a commercial real-time PCR. RSV was not found. CONCLUSIONS This study indicates that human and bovine RSV is not a major co-factor for development of hemorrhagic pneumonia in Danish mink.