Meleagrid alphaherpesvirus 1 (HVT)

Meleagrid alphaherpesvirus 1, commonly known as Herpesvirus of Turkeys (HVT), is a double-stranded DNA virus belonging to the Mardivirus genus of the Alphaherpesvirinae subfamily (ICTV, 2022). It is naturally non-pathogenic in turkeys and has been used extensively since the 1970s as a live vaccine to protect chickens against Marek's disease, a devastating lymphoproliferative condition caused by Gallid alphaherpesvirus 2 (Bublot & Sharma, 2004). The virus establishes a persistent, non-oncogenic infection in chickens, providing long-lasting immunity through antigenic cross-reactivity (Osterrieder et al., 2006). In modern veterinary medicine, HVT is frequently engineered as a viral vector to express protective antigens from other pathogens, such as Newcastle Disease Virus and Avian Influenza (Esaki et al., 2013). While HVT is not a target for human therapeutic drugs, it is a critical component of avian health management and a model for recombinant vaccine development (Babiuk et al., 2003). Its ability to persist in the host without causing disease makes it an ideal candidate for delivering foreign genes in a stable manner.

Other names

Turkey herpesvirusHerpesvirus of turkeysMeleagridid herpesvirus 1Marek's disease virus serotype 3

Antiviral drugs like acyclovir act via competitive inhibition of viral DNA polymerase (PubMed: 11053218), while the virus's primary use as a vaccine involves the induction of protective immunity through antigenic cross-reactivity with Marek's disease virus (Bublot & Sharma, 2004).