Evidence of bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) infection: serological survey in Argentina.

This is the first report of serological evidence for bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) infection in Argentina. The analysis was performed in 589 dairy bovine sera samples, applying indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (I-ELISA) using a synthetic antigen (transmembrane peptide, TM) and Immunofluorescent assay (IFA). In this study, 9 dairy herds from 4 Argentinian provinces were evaluated and 12% of the animals tested positive for BIV. Seven of the 9 herds tested were BIV seropositive and the percentage of BIV seropositive animals in the herds ranged from 2% to 42%. Direct detection of BIV provirus applying nested PCR was not conclusive. Antibody detection against bovine leukemia virus (BLV) in all sera was also performed applying immunodiffusion (ID) assay and 59% resulted seropositive. Statistical analysis of the results was carried out and possible evidence of association between BIV and BLV infection was considered. Future studies should be performed including local field isolates strains of BIV.