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. [Estudo da transmissao do virus da artrite-encefalite caprina em cabritos neonatos]. Resumo: A artrite encefalite caprina causa perdas consideraveis para a producao caprina. A principal forma de transmissao do virus da artrite encefalite caprina e a ingestao de colostro ou leite de femeas infectadas. No entanto, algumas transmissoes nao podem ser explicadas por esta via. Dessa forma, este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar a transmissao do virus da artrite encefalite caprina por via transplacentaria (vertical). Foram realizadas coletas de sangue em 283 crias recem-nascidas das racas Anglo-Nubiana e Saanen, provenientes de progenitores soropositivos e soronegativos. As amostras foram coletadas logo apos o nascimento e analisadas pelas tecnicas de imunodifusao em gel de agarose e western blot. No teste de imunodifusao em gel de agarose, nenhum cabrito foi detectado reagente. Porem, no teste de western blot, quatro cabritos nasceram soropositivos. Esse resultado indica que, apesar de baixa frequencia (1,4%), existe a possibilidade de transmissao via transplacentaria do lentivirus de pequenos ruminantes.