}UHPLJ} <a>Caprine Arthritis-Encephalitis Virus Infections</a>:Caprine Arthritis-Encephalitis Virus Infections (CAEV)

Caprine Arthritis-Encephalitis Virus



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This file is for the CAEV information for the IALA Homepage.

The first component of this file will be a summary of information about CAEV in goats and written in more or less lay terminology. The second component will be a more defined description of the effects of CAEV on goats - information which has been produced by field-type and experimental investigations. The third component will be a set of published literature citations on various aspects of the disease process. More publications on CAEV may be found using citation listing services such as Med-line.

Part one: Caprine Arthritis-Encephalitis Virus (CAEV) is a virus in the lentivirus family. Persistent infections have been documented in goats in many countries of the world. As indicated by the name, multiple organs are affected. The joints of adult goats develop an arthritis characterized by lameness and swelling, mainly of the peripheral joints of the limbs, particularly the carpal, hock, and stifle joints. Pathologically the primary lesion is hyperplastic synovitis with lymphocytic infiltration which also can extend into the tendon sheaths and bursae. Encephalitis is a form of the disease usually observed in young, 1 to 4 month-old, goats. Kid goats will have difficulty abducting the rear limbs and become ataxic. Progression, with ascending paralysis to total posterior paralysis and then to tetraparesis, will occur prior to death. There may be only a mild fever and an interstitial pneumonia may develop as a clinical sign. Lesions in the central nervous system are confined to the white matter, characterized by disseminated perivascular accumulations of lymphocytes, macrophages, and large reticulum cells. It may be termed non-suppurative or granulomatous depending on the predominance of certain cell types. Demyelination, reactive astrocytes and gitter cells may be specific lesion components, and there may be focal lymphocyte infiltration in the leptomeninges. The disease has been characterized as a leukoencephalomyelitis. In goats with a pneumonic component, there will be interstitial pneumonia with a prominent lymphoid hyperplasia.

The CAE virus has been isolated from goat milk and can be readily transmitted to kids by feeding colostrum and milk. Intrauterine infection possibly occurs, but aerosol or short-term contact between infected rams and non-infected does has not been shown to allow transmission.
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More transmission studies are needed; however, the heating of colostrum or milk to 56 C (132.8 F) for 1 hour has been shown to prevent transmission of viable CAE virus. Heat denaturation is recommended as a means of reducing transmission and overall infections in a goat herd.

Diagnosis of infected goats can be by a combination of clinical signs with detection of CAEV antibodies using an immunoprecipitation method (not available in all diagnostic laboratories), and by postmortem examination, including histopathology. Molecular methods, including the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) assay, may become available and may permit control efforts to be directed toward eradication of CAEV.

Part two: Specific features of the CAE virus and of the host response to infection will be added later. The publications listed below, and those found in Med-Line, etc. can be very helpful. (As of 1/7/98)

Part three: PUBLICATION REFERENCES FOR CAEV

Adams DS, Klevjer-Anderson P, Carlson JL, McGuire TC, and Gorham JR: Transmission and control of caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus. Am J Vet Res 44:1670-1675, 1983

Adams DS, Oliver RE, Ameghino E, DeMartini JC, Verwoerd DW, Houwers DJ, Waghela JR, Gorham JR, Hyllseth B, Dawson M, Trigo FJ, and McGuire TC: Global survey of serological evidence of caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus infection. Vet Rec 115:493-495, 1984

Clements JE and Zink MC. Molecular biology and pathogenesis of animal lentivirus infections. Clin Microbiol Rev 9:100-117, 1996

Egberink H and Horzinek MC. Animal immunodeficiency viruses. Vet Microbiol 33:311-331, 1992

Jones TC, Hunt RD, and King NW. VETERINARY PATHOLOGY, Williams & Wilkins Co. Baltimore, 1997, pp 334

Knowles DP Jr. Laboratory diagnostic tests for retrovirus infections of small ruminants. IN: Food Animal Retroviruses, Vet Clinics of N America, Johnson R and Pelzer KD, Eds, 13:1-11, 1997

Kennedy-Stoskopf S, Narayan O, and Strandberg JD: The mammary gland as a target organ for infection with caprine arthritis- encephalitis virus. J Comp Pathol 95:609-617, 1985
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Narayan O. Immunopathology of lentiviral infections in ungulate animals. Current Opinion Immunol 2:399-402, 1990

Phelps SL and Smith MC: Caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus infection. JAVMA 203:1663-1666, 1993

Rowe JD and East NE. Risk factors for transmission and methods of control of caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus infection. IN: Food Animal Retroviruses, Vet Clinics of N America, Johnson R and Pelzer KD, Eds, 13:35-53, 1997

END OF REFERENCES FOR CAEV: MORE ARE TO BE ADDED.


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LAST REVISION:1/7/98