Acute arthritis in caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus challenge exposure of vaccinated or persistently infected goats.

Goats vaccinated with inactivated caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus (CAEV) developed more severe arthritis after infectious CAEV challenge exposure than did goats vaccinated with tissue culture medium. Arthritis also developed more rapidly in the group vaccinated with inactivated virus. In another experiment, goats with persistent CAEV infection developed acute arthritis after at least 2 injections of infectious CAEV at monthly intervals. In this experiment, the control group consisted of goats with persistent CAEV that were given tissue culture medium. Seemingly, the immune response to CAEV is an important cause of the CAEV-induced arthritis.