Vincenz Fadri, Samoilenko Maksym, Abril Carlos Eduardo, Zanolari Patrik, Bertoni Giuseppe, Thomann Beat
Veterinary Public Health Institute, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, 3097 Liebefeld, Switzerland.
Institute of Virology and Immunology IVI, 3147 Bern, Switzerland.
Pathogens. 2025 Jul 20;14(7):719. doi: 10.3390/pathogens14070719.
Small ruminant lentiviruses (SRLVs) are widespread and have a long co-evolutionary history with their hosts, namely sheep and goats. These viruses induce insidious pathologies, causing significant financial losses and animal welfare issues for the affected flocks. In Switzerland, in the 1980s, an eradication campaign was launched targeting these viruses, exclusively in goats, eliminating the virulent SRLV-B strains from the goat population, in which SRLV-B-induced arthritis was prevalent. Nevertheless, although they do not seem to induce clinical diseases, SRLV-A strains continue to circulate in Swiss goats. For this study, we contacted farmers who had animals testing positive for these strains during the census from 2011 to 2012 and visited six of these flocks, conducting serological, virological, and clinical analyses of the animals. We confirmed the absence of SRLV-B; however, we have detected SRLV-A in these flocks. Positive and negative animals lived in close contact for ten years and, except for a small flock of 13 animals, 7 of which tested positive, the transmission of these viruses proved inefficient. None of the positive animals showed any pathology attributable to SRLV infection. These encouraging results allowed us to formulate recommendations for the continued surveillance of these viruses in the Swiss goat population.
小反刍兽慢病毒（SRLVs）广泛传播，与其宿主绵羊和山羊有着漫长的共同进化历史。这些病毒会引发隐匿性病变，给受影响的畜群造成重大经济损失和动物福利问题。在瑞士，20世纪80年代发起了一场根除这些病毒的运动，专门针对山羊，从山羊种群中消除了毒性较强的SRLV - B毒株，当时SRLV - B引发的关节炎在山羊中很普遍。然而，尽管SRLV - A毒株似乎不会引发临床疾病，但它们仍在瑞士山羊中继续传播。在本研究中，我们联系了在2011年至2012年普查期间其动物检测出这些毒株呈阳性的养殖户，并走访了其中六个畜群，对这些动物进行了血清学、病毒学和临床分析。我们确认没有SRLV - B；然而，我们在这些畜群中检测到了SRLV - A。阳性和阴性动物密切接触了十年，除了一小群13只动物中有7只检测呈阳性外，这些病毒的传播效率很低。没有一只阳性动物表现出任何可归因于SRLV感染的病变。这些令人鼓舞的结果使我们能够为瑞士山羊种群中这些病毒的持续监测制定建议。
