Lynn M. Herrmann-Hoesing
|
Research Microbiologist
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Agricultural Research Service
Animal Disease Research Unit
Pullman, WA
509-335-6068
lherrman@vetmed.wsu.edu
Education & Training
B.S. Biochemistry from Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
Ph.D. Chemistry from University of Denver, Denver, CO
Post-doctoral work: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, Laboratory of
Persistent Viral Disease, National Institutes of Allergy and
Infectious Disease, Hamilton, MT
Research Interests
|
 |
My laboratory's emphasis is to develop tools for predicting the severity of
disease caused by ovine progressive pneumonia virus (OPPV), a lentivirus of
sheep. OPPV is found in one out of two open range sheep and eventually
causes a combination of mastitis, arthritis, dypsnea, and cachexia and in
rare cases, ataxia in infected sheep. OPPV is an insidious, persistent
viral disease and results in gradual production losses for sheep producers.
Although there are sensitive and specific antibody-based diagnostic tests
that determine the presence of infection in adult sheep, these tests can be
expensive for producers and antibody titers do not correlate with the
severity of disease. The extent of disease is currently determined by
histopathological assessment of post-mortem tissues. Therefore, there is a
need for live animal tests that predict the severity of disease. We are
currently investigating viral molecular diagnostics and host immunogenetic
markers as possible prediction tools for the severity of OPPV disease.
