Prevalence of infection with caprine arthritisencephalitis virus in goat herds in the State of Maranhão, Brazil

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Teixeira W.C., Santos H.P., Veschi J.L.A., Nascimento S.A., Silva J.C.R., Marvulo M.F.V., Rizzo H. & Castro R.S. [Prevalence of infection with caprine arthritisencephalitis virus in goat herds in the State of Maranhão, Brazil.] Prevalência da infecção pelo Virus da Artrite Encefalite Caprina em rebanhos caprinos do Estado do Maranhão, Brasil. Revista Brasileira de Medicina Veterinária 38(1):1-6, 2016. Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Rua Dom Manoel de Medeiros, s/n, Dois Irmãos, Recife, PE 52171-900, Brasil. E-mail: robertosoarescastro@gmail.com The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of antibodies against caprine arthritis encephalitis virus in goat flocks in the State of Maranhão, Brazil. It was examined 1.703 serum samples from goats with or without clinical signs of infection. The animals were older than six months, various races and both sex. Altogether 82 herds were examined from 10 animal health official units, located in the East, Central and Northern state regions of Marana. The samples were tested by the agar gel immunodiffusion assay (AGID). The overall prevalence of CAEV infection was 2.8% (47/1703), and the prevalence in the regions North, East and Centre were 1.3% (5/385), 2.5% (18/713) and 4.0% (24/605), respectively. Significant differences between the North and Central were observed (P<0.05). Of the total number of herds sampled, 25.6% (21/82) had at least one positive animal. The prevalence of 4.4% (10/225) for males and 2.5% (37/1478) for females were significantly different (P<0.05). It was found that the prevalence did not increase with age (P>0.05). There prevalence is of 11.3% (16/142), 3.5% (23/654) and 0.9% (8/907) were recorded in purebred, crossbred and SRD animals, respectively (P <0.05). It is concluded that the CAEV virus is widespread in regions of the state of Marana and that it is necessary to adopt a sanitary policy for its control.