Evaluation of caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus transmission in newborn goat kids

ABSTRACT: Caprine arthritis encephalitis causes considerable losses in goat production. The main form of the caprine arthritis encephalitis virus transmission is through the ingestion of colostrum or milk from infected females. However, some transmissions cannot be explained in this manner. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate transplacental transmission of caprine arthritis encephalitis virus. Blood samples were collected from 283 newborn kids of Anglo-Nubian and Saanen breeds born from seropositive and seronegative goats. Samples were collected immediately after birth and analyzed with agarose gel immunodiffusion and western blot. All samples were negative in the agarose gel immunodiffusion. However, the western blot test demonstrated that four kids were born positive for caprine arthritis encephalitis virus. This result indicates that although in a low frequency (1.4%), there is a possibility of transplacental transmission of small ruminant lentivirus.

摘要：山羊关节炎脑炎（Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis, CAE）会给山羊养殖业造成重大经济损失。山羊关节炎脑炎病毒（Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis Virus, CAEV）的主要传播途径为摄入感染母羊的初乳或乳汁，但部分传播案例无法通过该途径得到合理解释。为此，本研究旨在评估山羊关节炎脑炎病毒的胎盘传播可能性。本研究采集了283份来自血清学阳性与阴性母羊所产的安格鲁努比亚山羊（Anglo-Nubian）及萨能奶山羊（Saanen）新生羔羊的血液样本，所有样本均于出生后即刻采集，并通过琼脂糖凝胶免疫扩散试验（Agarose Gel Immunodiffusion, AGID）与蛋白质免疫印迹试验（Western Blot, WB）进行检测。琼脂糖凝胶免疫扩散试验结果显示所有样本均呈阴性，但蛋白质免疫印迹试验结果表明，有4只新生羔羊的山羊关节炎脑炎病毒检测呈阳性。该结果表明，尽管发生率仅为1.4%，小反刍动物慢病毒仍存在胎盘传播的可能性。