Seroprevalence and molecular evidence for the presence of bovine immunodeficiency virus in Brazilian cattle.
Data on the worldwide distribution of bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) and bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is limited. A prevalence study of antibodies to BIV and BLV was conducted in six different cattle herds in Brazil. Out of a total of 238 sera analyzed, 11.7% were found positive for anti-BIV p26 antibodies as determined by Western blot analysis, 2.1% were positive for anti-BLV gp51 antibodies as detected by immunodiffusion test. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from BIV seropositive cattle were found to have BIV-provirus DNA, as detected by nested polymerase chain reaction. A nucleotide sequence corresponding to a 298 bp fragment of the BIV pol gene was also analyzed. Amino acid sequences of these Brazilian pol gene products showed 98.0 to 100% homology to the American strain BIV R29, 97.0 to 99.0% to Japanese BIV isolates, and divergence ranged from 0 to 4.0% among Brazilian BIV isolates. This evidence of the presence of BIV and BLV infections in Brazil should be considered a health risk to Brazilian cattle populations and a potential causative agent of chronic disease in cattle.
Meas
Sothy
S
Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, Department of Disease Control, Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0818, Japan.
Ruas
Jeronimo
J
Farias
Nara Amelia
NA
Usui
Tatsufumi
T
Teraoka
Yoshiyuki
Y
Mulenga
Albert
A
Chang
Kyung-Soo
KS
Masuda
Aoi
A
Madruga
Claudo Roberto
CR
Ohashi
Kazuhiko
K
Onuma
Misao
M
Ruas Faias
Jeronimo
J
D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D016583:Enzootic Bovine Leukosis / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D016087:Immunodeficiency Virus, Bovine / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016180:Lentivirus Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D001909:Leukemia Virus, Bovine / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
D000914:Antibodies, Viral