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Clinical and subclinical bovine leukemia virus infection in a dairy cattle herd in Zambia

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Abstract

Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) causes enzootic bovine leucosis (EBL) and is responsible for substantial economic losses in cattle globally. However, information in Africa on the disease is limited. Here, based on clinical, hematological, pathological and molecular analyses, two clinical cases of EBL were confirmed in a dairy cattle herd in Zambia. In contrast, proviral DNA was detected by PCR in five apparently healthy cows from the same herd, suggesting subclinical BLV infection. Phylogenetic analysis of the env gene showed that the identified BLV clustered with Eurasian genotype 4 strains. This is the first report of confirmed EBL in Zambia.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Japan Initiative for Global Research Network on Infectious Diseases (J-GRID) and the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED)/Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) within the framework of the Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS).

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Correspondence to Girja S. Pandey.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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G. S. Pandey and E. Simulundu contributed equally to this work.

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Pandey, G.S., Simulundu, E., Mwiinga, D. et al. Clinical and subclinical bovine leukemia virus infection in a dairy cattle herd in Zambia. Arch Virol 162, 1051–1056 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-016-3205-0

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