Bovine Leukemia Virus: Current perspectives

JULIARENA, MARCELA; BARRIOS, CLARISA NATALIA; LUTZELSCHWAB, CLAUDIA; ESTEBAN, EDUARDO; GUTIÉRREZ, SILVINA ELENA

Virus Adaptation and Treatment

Dovepress

Lugar: Auckland; Año: 2017 vol. 9 p. 13 - 26

Enzootic bovine leukosis, caused by bovine leukemia virus (BLV), is the most common neoplasm of dairy cattle. Although beef and dairy cattle are susceptible to BLV infection and BLV-associated lymphosarcoma, the disease is more commonly detected in dairy herds, mostly because of the management practices in dairy farms. The pathogenicity of BLV in itsnatural host, the bovine, depends mainly on the resistance/susceptibility genetics of the animal.The majority of infected cattle are asymptomatic, promoting the extremely high disseminationrate of BLV in many bovine populations. The important productive losses caused by the BLV,added to the health risk of maintaining populations with a high prevalence of infection with aretrovirus, generates the need to implement control measures. Different strategies to controlthe virus have been attempted. The most effective approach is to identify and cull the totalityof infected cattle in the herd. However, this approach is not suitable for herds with high prevalenceof infection. At present, no treatment or vaccine has proven effective for the control ofBLV. Thus far, the genetic selection of resistant animals emerges as a natural strategy for thecontainment of the BLV dissemination. In natural conditions, most of the infected, resistantcattle can control the infection, and therefore do not pass the virus to other animals, graduallydecreasing the prevalence of the herd.