Prevalence of bovine virus diarrhoea virus infection in Belgian white blue cattle in southern Belgium.

A study was conducted in Southern Belgium to determine the prevalence of bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) infection in Belgian White Blue herds. Blood samples were taken from 9685 cattle, representing all the stock on 61 farms, by local veterinarians to screen for persistently infected animals and to determine their serological status against BVDV. Some of the herds (42.5%) were selected because of a prior positive diagnosis of BVDV or on the grounds of suspicion of BVD. A capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to test for antigen. The prevalence of persistently infected animals was 0.75% overall and 1.46% in the 27 herds with at least one persistently infected animal. The prevalence of seropositive animals was determined with a competitive antibody ELISA and was found to be 65.5% for the animals as a whole but 53.8% for the herds without positively infected animals and 76.6% for the herds with at least one such animal. All the herds contained seropositive animals.