Transmission of equine infectious anemia virus to foals born from naturally infected mares

• Grant number: 12/24120-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2013
• End date: November 30, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Preventive Veterinary Medicine
• Principal Investigator: João Pessoa Araújo Junior
• Grantee: Raíssa Vasconcelos Cavalcante
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IBB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Equine infectious anemia is caused by a retrovírus and its primary mode of transmission is the transfer of blood from infected to healthy animals. It is a compulsory notification infection and its control is based on serological diagnosis by agar gel immunodiffusion test (AGID) and euthanizing infected animals. In this test, there is the possibility of false-negative in the early stages of infection in foals born from infected mares. The EIA is endemic in the Pantanal and it is difficulty practice of euthanasia. Two years ago Embrapa Pantanal developed the "Program for Prevention and Control of EIA in South Pantanal of Mato Grosso" which provides for obtaining foals negative from positive females. Besides the provisions in the program, there is still controversy since the colts could really be uninfected or infected without seroconvert. A direct technique such as PCR, may answered that question. However, most published PCR methods, including the one that is recommended by OIE, were designed using laboratory-adapted virus strains and do not function with field isolates of EIA virus (EIAV). Dong et al. (2012) proposed a nested PCR that we tested previously in studies conducted in our laboratory, with satisfactory results. In this context, the main aim of the project is to identify the frequency of infection of foals born to mares naturally infected in the Pantanal by using a molecular technique with high analytical sensitivity. (AU)