588Pesq. Vet. Bras. 28(12):588-592, dezembro 2008 RESUMO.-[Monitoramento do estado de infecção pelo vírus da diarrhéia viral bovina (BVDV) em rebanhos bovinos leiteiros.] Os objetivos do presente estudo foram avaliar a relação entre os níveis de anticorpos frente ao vírus da diarréia viral bovina (BVDV) no tanque de leite e a prevalência de animais seropositivos em cada rebanho; e também avaliar a eficiência da medição dos ní-veis de anticorpos no tanque de leite como método de monitoramento do status de infecção frente ao BVDV. Nos rebanhos estudados, obtiveram-se amostras de soro de todos os animais com idade superior a um ano, assim como uma amostra de tanque coletivo de leite. As amostras de soro e leite foram analisados por um teste ELISA de bloqueio baseado na detecção de anticorpos anti-p80. Posteriormente coletaram-se mais duas amostras do tanque de leite em cada exploração com intervalos de nove meses entre as coletas. This study was designed to assess the relationship between antibodies against bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) determined in the bulk tank milk (BTM) and the within-herd seroprevalence. We also assessed the efficiency of measuring antibody levels in BTM samples to monitor BVDV infection status in a herd. In the 81 farms included in the study, BTM samples were obtained and blood samples withdrawn from all cattle older than one year. The infection status was then determined in serum and milk using a commercial blocking ELISA based on the detection of anti-p80 antibodies. Apart from these baseline serum and milk samples, another BTM sample was collected from each herd 9 months later, and a third BTM sample obtained 9 months after this. In these second and third milk samples, anti-BVDV antibodies were determined using the same ELISA kit. Statistical tests revealed good agreement between herd seroprevalences (% seropositive animals in the herd) and the antibody levels detected in the BTM samples. During the 18 months of follow-up, the farms with persistently infected cattle at the study outset (14.8% of the herds) showed a significant decrease in BTM antibody titers after virus clearance. Conversely, a significant increase in BTM antibody levels was observed in the herds infected with BVDV during the follow-up period. Our findings indicate that monitoring antibody levels in the BTM is a useful method of identifying changes in the BVDV infection status of a herd.