Experimental immunology
Humoral immune response to caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus in goat herds

The serological study was performed to assess the humoral immune response to caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus infection in goat herds. The collection of 1074 sera harvested in 76 randomly selected breeding herds was tested using commercial ELISA test. Positive and inconclusive results were verified with AGID test. As serial mode of testing was applied, only these sera which turned out positive in the latter test were classified truly positive. Eventually, 161 goats (15.0%) produced humoral immune response to CAEV. They originated from 20 (26.3%) herds. Within-herd prevalence rate of caprine arthritis-encephalitis CAE ranged from 4.2 to 80.0% with a median 33.3%. The prevalence of CAE was lowest (16.5%) in young goats and highest (55.7%) in a group of four year-old goats. The results of our investigation indicate that CAEV infection tends to spread slowly within a goat herd but eventually the seroprevalence can reach such high values that the only way to eradicate the disease is to cull the entire herd. That shows the importance of early detection of CAE in a herd which allows eradication of the disease by culling only seropositive animals.