Caprine retrovirus infection in New South Wales: Virus isolations, clinical and histopathological findings and prevalence of antibody

Abstract

Caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus (CAEV) was isolated by explant cultures of carpal synovial membranes and lung from 7 goats in New South Wales. These goats were clinically affected with the arthritic, neurologic, and pneumonic forms of CAEV infection either singly or in combination. CAEV antibody was detected by the gel immunodiffusion precipitin (GDP) test in 5 of the 7 goats. Serum samples from 2,708 goats, from 115 herds, were examined for CAEV antibody using the GDP test. Approximately one-third of the animals and 82% of the herds tested had CAEV antibody. The infection was common in all breeds of dairy goats with an indication of a significantly lower prevalence in the Saanen breed (24.4%) compared to Nubians, British Alpines and Toggenbergs (43.8%, 38.7% and 39.1% respectively). CAEV antibody was also demonstrated in 11 of 230 Angora goats. The infection was equally common in all age groups, with slightly higher prevalence in males (83 of 230, 36%) compared to females (648 of 2,232, 29%). Among seropositive animals 85% were clinically normal. Of 280 clinically affected goats tested only 42% had detectable antibody. One of 5 sheep that had been in contact with infected goats in one herd had CAEV serum antibody.

Expanding Possibilities for Intervention against Small Ruminant Lentiviruses through Genetic Marker-Assisted Selective Breeding

“…Economic losses are due to reduced milk yield, mastitis, interaction with bacterial mammary infection, and premature culling [22,23,24,25]. Importantly, both OvLV and CaLV show evidence of breed differences in susceptibility [26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34], that together with other evidence [35,36,37,38,39] suggest a host genetic component in susceptibility and control. …”

“…That is, there need to be multiple genetic versions, known as alleles, to select one or more over others in making breeding decisions. For both sheep and goats, multiple reports support breed differences in seroprevalence of small ruminant lentiviruses as evidence for a genetic basis for probability of infection [26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34]. For sheep, a twin study indicated that host genetics played a larger role than viral genetic variability in probability of infection in at least one case [36].…”

“…Many studies have noted breed differences among goats in susceptibility to CAEV [30,31,32,33], strongly suggesting a genetic basis. However, few studies have examined specific genetic regions to identify factors underlying these genetic differences, except those focusing on the MHC region using serologic methods rather than modern sequencing to define alternate genotypes [37,38].…”

Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis – A Model for AIDS?

“…Seropositive animals were found in 11 of 14 countries investigated. Stud ies were published from Great Britain, Italy and Mexico in 1985 [22][23][24], from Algeria, Australia and Hungary in 1986 [16,25,26] and in 1987 from California, Holland and Spain [27][28][29], Earlier reports came from Denmark [30], Sweden [31], Switzerland [32], France [33], Germany [15] and Israel [34], Since the report from Japan [35] probably deals with CAE, it can be stated that CAE occurs in all continents.…”

Artrite-encefalite dos caprinos - aspectos clínicos e epidemiológicos

“…CUTLIP et al, 1992;SARAIVA NETO et al, 1995;FERNANDES, 1997;MELO e FRANKE, 1997;RAMALHO, 2000). Todavia, BOHLAND (1998) GREWAL et al, 1986).…”