Sothy Meas

Vertical transmission of bovine leukemia virus and bovine immunodeficiency virus in dairy cattle herds.

Vertical transmission of bovine leukemia virus (BLV) and bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) was investigated in five dairy cattle herds in Hokkaido, where 36.1 and 17.0% of cattle were BLV and BIV seropositive, respectively, and 9.9% of dams were co-infected with both BIV and BLV. Twenty six cases of offspring born from dams infected with only BLV (17 cases) or with both BIV and BLV (9 cases) were examined for the presence of BLV and BIV before and after colostrum feeding by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and syncytium assay. After birth, all calves were separated immediately from their dams. The offspring born from BLV-positive dams were BLV-negative before colostrum feeding, suggesting that no transplacental transmission had occurred. Thereafter, these offspring were fed colostrum or milk from their dams, but still remained BLV-negative. The other offspring born from BLV-positive dams were fed with BLV-negative colostrum, or with pasteurized BLV-positive colostrum. All these calves remained negative for BLV infection, suggesting that in utero transmission of BLV is negligible. In the case of offspring born from dams co-infected with BLV and BIV, calves were BIV-positive before colostrum feeding at 1 day after the birth, indicating in utero transmission of BIV. After colostrum feeding from their dams, newborn calves became BLV-positive. In addition, one calf was BLV-positive even before colostrum feeding. These results suggest that BIV can be transmitted to offspring in utero, and that BLV can be transmitted through colostrum or milk if dams are infected with both BIV and BLV.

Phylogenetic relationships of bovine immunodeficiency virus in cattle and buffaloes based on surface envelope gene sequences

Summary. Isolates of bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) exhibit a striking genomic diversity, most of which are located in the viral envelope gene. Since this property of the BIV group of viruses may play an important role in the pathobiology of the virus, the surface envelope gene, particularly the conserved (C) 2, hypervariable (V)1, V2 and C3 regions, of eleven different isolates from different environments with different bovine breeds naturally infected with BIV, including dairy cows in Japan, buffaloes in Pakistan and draught animals in Cambodia, were sequenced. When compared to the nucleotide sequence of American BIV isolates, all Asian BIV field isolates seem to be smaller, several base substitutions were observed in the V1 region, and deletions were also found in the V2 region of env gene in these samples. However, deduced amino acid sequences were not so different among isolates from different bovine breeds, suggesting that bovine susceptibility to BIV infection may not depend upon bovine breed or buffaloes. Moreover, phylogenetic analysis revealed that genotypes were distinct between Asian and American BIV isolates and these results also provide an information on the molecular epidemiology of naturally occurring BIV infection in cattle and buffaloes