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The influence of risk factors on bovine leukemia virus infection and proviral load in egyptian cattle

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Abstract

Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is the etiological agent of enzootic bovine leucosis (EBL), which affects cattle globally. In Egypt, BLV control strategies have been ignored because of the shortage of BLV research studies and the silent infection in most animals. This study aimed to identify the risk factors associated with the prevalence of BLV among dairy and beef cattle from six different geographic and climatic provinces in Egypt. Additionally, risk factors affecting the BLV proviral load (PVL) among the positive cattle were targeted. The total BLV prevalence in cattle from six investigated Egyptian provinces was 24.2% (105/433), while the mean PVL (8651.6 copies /105 white blood cells) was absolutely high as estimated by the BLV-CoCoMo-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)-2 assay. Analysis of the influence of risk factors (age, sex, breed, production type, farm size, and location) on BLV prevalence indicated that the Holstein breed (OR = 1.582, p = 0.007), beef cattle (OR = 1.088, p = 0.0001), large-size farms (OR = 1.26, p = 0.0001), and cattle from Damietta (OR = 1.43, p = 0.0001) and Cairo (OR = 1.16, p = 0.0001) were ultimately proven the most important risks for BLV infection. The risk factors were analyzed considering the BLV PVL levels in the BLV-positive cases. Significantly high PVL (HPVL) levels were observed in cattle > 5 years old (p < 0.0001), females (p = 0.0008), Holstein (p < 0.0001), dairy cows (p = 0.0053), large-size farms (p < 0.0001), and cattle from Damietta (p < 0.0001) compared to other categories. Contrary, no significant differences in PVL levels were reported between the Native and Mixed cattle breeds (p = 0.13). Ultimately, the logistic regression model indicated that the probability of carrying HPVL in cattle > 5 years is 1.27 (95% CI: 1.03–2.09, p < 0.001) times more likely compared to cattle < 2 years old. In conclusion, the findings were valuably correlating the BLV prevalence with PVL as an indicator of the risk of BLV infection.

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Data Availability

All data included in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the veterinarians and our collaborators for kindly assisting with sampling from many farms and slaughterhouses in Egypt. Proviral load analysis was performed in the Viral Infectious Diseases Field, RIKEN, Japan under the supervision of Prof. Yoko AIDA and we are grateful to Prof. Y. AIDA and members for their technical assistance, help, and suggestions.

Funding

This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) (Grant no. 16H02590) and by a grant from the Embassy of Egypt Culture, Education and Science Bureau.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Clinical Pathology, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Damanhour University, 22511, Damanhour, Egypt

    Rania Hamada

  2. Division of Internal Medicine, Department of Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, South Valley University, 83523, Qena City, Qena, Egypt

    Ragab M. Fereig

  3. Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Damanhour University, 22511, Damanhour, Egypt

    Samy Metwally

  4. Laboratory of Global Infectious Diseases Control Science, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, 113-8657, Tokyo, Japan

    Samy Metwally

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  1. Rania Hamada
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Contributions

Conceptualization and design; SM, RH., Experiments, formal analysis, investigation; RH, SM, RF; Resources and shared materials; RH, SM., Writing—original draft, RH, SM, RF; Writing—review and editing; SM, RH.

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Correspondence to Rania Hamada or Samy Metwally.

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Hamada, R., Fereig, R.M. & Metwally, S. The influence of risk factors on bovine leukemia virus infection and proviral load in egyptian cattle. Vet Res Commun 48, 191–202 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11259-023-10198-8

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