Investigation of the role of Caprine arthritis encephalitis virus (CAEV) infection in herd of goat with chronic respiratory problems

Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis virus (CAEV) is a Lentivirus in the Retroviridae family, the infection characterised with persistent infection with poor prognosis. Presence of the infection was reported in Turkey before. Aim of this study was to obtain first data in Afyonkarahisar province and to investigate the its role in the goat flocks have chronic health problems.For this purpose, blood serum samples were collected from 422 adult goats from 13 flocks. Sera samples were controlled for CAEV infection using indirect ELISA. Test results showed that out of 9 clinically normal flocks, CAEV specific antibodies were detected in 4 between 1.2% and 6.7. Slight-mild chronic respiratory system disorders detected in 4 enterprises, positivity was detected in all of them between 2.2% and 12.In total, out of 422 goats, 18 (4.2%) were found to be positive. Low level correlation was determined statistically between clinical disorders and CAEV positivity. Sampled animal?s Body Condition Score (BCS) were sligthly low in the flocks that have chronic health problems while normal in the other flocks.In this study, the first data for CAEV infection was obtained in Afyonkarahisar province. Beside, presence of the infection up to 12% roportions in chronic respiratory disorders detected flocks showed that CAEV could have role in these disorders as alone or mixed with other infectious agents. To evalutae the contamination style and timing into the flocks was not possible due to absence of regular health records. However, it is obvious that the infection is not rare in the province and to impement the precautions for control of the CAEV infection is a necessity in order to sustain economic goat breeding.