Molecular Assessment of Chelonid Alphaherpesvirus 5 Infection in Tumor-Free Green (Chelonia mydas) and Loggerhead (Caretta caretta) Sea Turtles in North Carolina, USA, 2015–2019

Fibropapillomatosis is associated with chelonid alphaherpesvirus 5 (ChHV5) and tumor formation in sea turtles. We collected blood samples from 113 green (Chelonia mydas) and 112 loggerhead (Caretta caretta) turtles without fibropapillomatosis, including 46 free-ranging turtles (20 green turtles, 26 loggerheads), captured in Core Sound, North Carolina, and 179 turtles (93 green turtles, 86 loggerheads) in rehabilitative care in North Carolina. Blood samples were analyzed for ChHV5 DNA using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), and for antibodies to ChHV5 peptides using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). None of the samples from foraging turtles tested positive for ChHV5 by qPCR; ELISA was not used for foraging turtles. Samples from 18/179 (10.1%) rehabilitating turtles tested positive for ChHV5 using qPCR, and 32/56 (57.1%) rehabilitating turtles tested positive for antibodies to ChHV5 using ELISA. Five turtles that tested positive by qPCR or ELISA at admission converted to being undetectable during rehabilitation, and five that initially tested negative converted to being positive. Both sea turtle species were significantly more likely to test positive for ChHV5 using ELISA than with qPCR (p < 0.001). There was no difference in the proportions of green turtles versus loggerheads that tested positive for ChHV5 using qPCR, but loggerheads were significantly more likely than green turtles to test positive for ChHV5 using ELISA. This finding suggests that loggerheads infected with ChHV5 at some point in their life may be more able than green turtles to mount an effective immune response against recrudescent infection, pointing to species-specific genetic differences in the two species’ immune response to ChHV5 infection. This is the first study to analyze antibodies to ChHV5 in loggerhead turtles and represents the most complete dataset on ChHV5 DNA detection in sea turtles encountered in the more northern latitudes of their western Atlantic habitat.