Isolation and partial characterization of ovine lentivirus in Czech Republic.

The first isolation and partial characterization of ovine lentivirus in Czech Republic is described. The virus was isolated in a tissue culture system derived from plexus choroideus from sheep. The new isolate was compared with prototypic K1514 Maedi-Visna strain; these two viruses shared antigenic determinants as determined by serological testing. Both viral strains reacted in a PCR reaction with primers situated in the gag and pol gene. Based on similarities of growth characteristics, antigenic determinants and primer binding sites it can be concluded that the isolate OPM is an ovine lentivirus and is at least partly related to the prototypic Maedi-Visna strain K1514.