Effects of infection with bovine virus diarrhoea virus on health and reproductive performance in 213 dairy herds in one county in Sweden

Bulk tank milk samples, collected twice with a 1 year interval, from 213 Swedish dairy herds with no vaccination programme against bovine virus diarrhoea virus (BVDV), were tested for antibodies to BVDV using an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The herds were classified into four different BVDV groupings based on changes in the estimated prevalence of BVDV antibody-positive cows in the herds. The estimated mean prevalences of BVDV antibody-positive cows were maintained as > 80% in 58 (27.2%) and as < 10% in 84 (39.4%) of the herds. A recent introduction of the infection was deemed to have occurred in seven (3.3%) of the herds studied. The BVDV groups were compared with regard to parameters related to disease and fertility at herd level. Relationships were assessed using logistic and ordinary linear regression analyses. The risks for clinical mastitis, retained placenta and oestrus-stimulating treatments were higher and the calving intervals were longer in BVDV infected herds, i.e. those herds with an increasing or maintained high prevalence of BVDV antibody-positive cows.     

Evidence for transmission of bovine leukemia virus by rectal palpation in a commercial dairy herd

The risk of Bovine Leukemia Virus (BLV) transmission by rectal examination was determined over 22 months in a commercial dairy herd. All 167 BLV seronegative cattle, of breeding age or greater, were divided randomly into two groups and identified by neck-chain color. In the treatment group, routine rectal palpation occurred after a BLV infected animal and without a change of sleeve, while in the other group, palpation occurred in a similar manner with the exception that sleeves were changed between animals. When BLV seronegative cattle in either group were palpated after BLV infected cattle, the event and identification of the cattle involved were recorded. Serologic testing was performed eight times during the 22 month study to determine the number of animals that became infected following a palpation (an event). Thirty-one animals seroconverted during the study; 24 in the treatment (no sleeve change) group and seven in the sleeve change group. Sixteen of the animals in the treatment group that seroconverted had been palpated prior to their seroconversion. A hazard ratio (relative risk) for BLV seroconversion was determined between the two groups. Cows palpated with no sleeve change had a 2.8-fold increase in risk (confidence interval 1.1–6.8) of BLV infection. The increased risk of BLV infection associated with rectal palpation may have been affected by the presence of some highly infectious cows in the herd. This study confirms that rectal palpation without a change of sleeve may be a significant risk factor in some herds, and if efforts are made to decrease the spread of BLV in a herd, the potential for rectal sleeve transmission must be considered.     

Prevalence and risk factors associated with bovine viral diarrhea virus infection in dairy herds in Jordan

A cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the seroprevalence and to identify risk factors associated with bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) infection in 62 non-vaccinated dairy herds (671 cows) in Jordan between January and June 2007. Information regarding herd management was recorded through a personal interview with farmers. Antibodies against BVDV were detected using an indirect ELISA test. Chi-square analysis and multivariable logistic regression model were used to identify risk factors for BVDV seropositivity. The true prevalence of antibodies against BVDV in individual cows and cattle herds was 31.6% and 80.7%, respectively. The seroprevalence of BVDV in medium and large size herds was significantly higher than that in smaller herds. There was no significant difference in BVD seroprevalence between different age groups. Random-effects logistic regression model revealed two major factors associated with seropositivity to BVDV; exchange of visits between adjacent farm workers and not isolating newly purchased animals before addition to the herd. The seroprevalence of BVDV in cows located in the northern Jordanian governorates was significantly higher than that in other studied governorates. Results of this study indicated that BVDV is highly prevalent in Jordan and BVDV infection could be controlled by livestock-trade control, and applying strict biosecurity measures in the dairy farms.     

A scoring system for risk assessment of the introduction and spread of bovine viral diarrhoea virus in dairy herds in Northern Italy

To support a voluntary disease control program, this study aimed to develop an integrated scoring system for the risk assessment of bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) infection in dairy herds in Northern Italy. Sixty-two dairy herds were classified according to their BVDV serological status. Farmers were interviewed using a questionnaire on potential BVDV risk factors. Scores were used to define risk levels for factors related to (1) BVDV introduction (through livestock trade, attendance of animals at shows/exhibitions and grazing common pasture), (2) within-herd spread of BVDV and (3) the results of initial serological testing. The calculated odds ratios were significant for all categories, except for livestock trade. The application of the screening test, the questionnaire and the related risk assessment showed this to be a practical approach to predicting BVDV herd status.     

The recent prevalence of bovine leukemia virus (BLV) infection among Japanese cattle

A seroepidemiological survey of bovine leukemia virus (BLV) infection was conducted in Japan in 2007 using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and an agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) test. A total of 5420 cattle (dairy, 3966; breeding beef, 797; fattening beef, 657) from 209 farms in seven prefectures in Japan were tested. The overall prevalence of BLV infection was 28.6%. The prevalence of BLV infection in dairy cattle (34.7%) was higher than for both fattening beef cattle (7.9%) and breeding beef cattle (16.3%). Age-specific prevalence showed that BLV prevalence increased with age in all types of cattle and was notably different between dairy and beef cattle under 1 year of age. Among 207 farms, 141 herds (68.1%) had one or more positive animals. The proportion of these positive farms was significantly higher among dairy farms (79.1%) than among beef breeding farms (39.5%) and beef fattening farms (51.9%) (P < 0.001). Dairy farms (40.5%) also showed a significantly higher within-herd prevalence than beef breeding (27.4%) and fattening (14.9%) farms (P = 0.001). This study indicated that BLV is more widely spread in dairy cattle than in beef breeding cattle in Japan. Given the prevalence of BLV infection in dairy and beef cattle was 8- and 1.7-fold higher, respectively, than rates previously found in 1980–1982, BLV appears to be spreading particularly among the dairy cattle population during the last two decades. Further investigation is required to determine the risk factors necessary to control BLV infection that take into account the different farming practices that exist between dairy and beef sectors.     

Economic implications of bovine leukemia virus infection in mid-Atlantic dairy herds

OBJECTIVE: To determine the baseline costs of bovine leukemia virus (BLV) infection, including costs of clinical disease and subclinical infection, in a dairy herd representative of the mid-Atlantic region and compare these costs with the cost of a test-and-manage BLV control program. DESIGN: Stochastic spreadsheet model. SAMPLE POPULATION: A commercial Holstein dairy herd with 100 milking cows. PROCEDURES: A spreadsheet model was developed. The overall cost of infection included the cost of clinical disease (ie, lymphosarcoma [LS]) and the effects of subclinical infection on milk production and premature culling. Model input values and distributions were designed to reflect economic conditions in the mid-Atlantic region. Relative costs of infection and control were calculated for infection prevalences of 20, 50, and 80%. RESULTS: Estimated mean cost to the producer per case of LS was 412 dollars; for a herd with a 50% prevalence of BLV infection, annual incidence of LS was 0.66. Mean annual cost of subclinical infection at a 50% prevalence of infection was 6,406 dollars. Mean annual cost of a test-and-manage control program was 1,765 dollars. The cost of clinical disease and subclinical infection varied substantially with the prevalence of infection, whereas the cost of control varied with herd size. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Results suggested that a basic BLV control program may be economically beneficial in herds in which the prevalence of BLV infection is > or = 12.5%. Farm-specific considerations may factor prominently when weighing the costs and benefits of an individual BLV control program.     

Analysis of risk factors associated with bovine leukemia virus seropositivity within dairy and beef breeding farms in Japan: A nationwide survey

This cross-sectional study evaluated risk factors associated with farm-level bovine leukemia virus (BLV) seropositivity in 563 dairy and 490 beef farms throughout Japan. Twenty randomly selected cattle on each farm were serologically tested, and farm epidemiologiocal information was obtained through face-to-face interviews. Due to the large number of zero-prevalence dairy and beef farms, data analysis was performed using a zero-inflated negative binomial model, which revealed that the common risk factors associated with higher within-farm seroprevalence were past detection of clinical leukemia and presence of blood-sucking insects. Loose housing on dairy farms and direct contact between calves and adult cattle on beef farms were also identified as risk factors. With regard to farm-level presence of BLV, the presence of purchased cattle was found to be a risk factor in both sectors. Sending heifers to a common ranch was identified as an additional risk factor for dairy farms.     

Evaluation of a bulk-milk ELISA test for the classification of herd-level bovine leukemia virus status

The results of a commercial bulk-milk enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test for herd-level bovine leukemia virus (BLV) status were compared to results obtained from individual agar-gel immunodiffussion (AGID) testing on sampled cattle. A positive herd was defined as a herd having one or more AGID-positive animals. The estimated true herd status was based on the sensitivity and specificity of the AGID test and the number of cattle sampled per herd. Ninety-seven herds were used, with a mean of 13 cows sampled per herd. The AGID test indicated an apparent herd prevalence of 70.1%. After accounting for the number of cows sampled and the sensitivity and specificity of the AGID test, the estimated true herd prevalence of BLV was 52.3%. The ELISA test identified 79.4% of herds as positive for BLV, and had an apparent sensitivity and specificity of 0.97 and 0.62, respectively. However, after accounting for the sensitivity and specificity of the AGID test in individual animals, the specificity of the ELISA test was 0.44. The ELISA test was useful for identifying BLV-negative herds (i.e., ruling out the presence of BLV infection in test negative herds). With the moderately low specificity, herds identified as positive by the ELISA test would require further testing at the individual or herd level to definitively establish their BLV status.     

流行性牛白血病的病原及传播途径研究进展

流行性牛白血病是由反转录病毒科丁型反转录病毒属的牛白血病病毒所致的一种肿瘤性疾病。在病毒的囊膜中含有数种糖蛋白(gp) ,在芯髓有几种非糖基化的蛋白 (p) ,其中gp51和 p2 4的抗原活性最高 ,可用作流行性牛白血病的特异性血清学诊断。此病的病毒可通过垂直和水平传播 ,其中水平传播的途径很多 ,主要包括血源性传播、分泌性传播、接触性传播、寄生性传播、精液性传播、乳源性传播和管理性传播等     

Natural transplacental infection of dairy calves with bovine immunodeficiency virus and estimation of effect on neonatal health

Many experimental infection studies with bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) have been conducted, but neither virus transmission under natural conditions nor longitudinal clinical effects of naturally occurring infections in non-experimental populations are well explored. We tested the hypotheses that BIV is transmitted across the placenta during gestation and that intragestionally infected calves are at increased risk of neonatal disease. A cohort of 59 dairy cows on one farm were enrolled at parturition and the BIV serostatus of the cows and their pre-colostral calves determined with an indirect fluorescent-antibody assay. Moreover, the enrolled calves were monitored thrice weekly for specific clinical signs through the duration of the 30 day neonatal period and the occurrence of clinical signs analyzed for association with calf pre-colostral BIV serostatus and dam BIV serostatus. Confounding due to calf passive immunity and season of birth were also explored. Forty percent of seropositive cows (14/35) gave birth to seropositive calves but no seropositive calves (0/19) were born to seronegative dams (estimated relative risk 16, 95% exact confidence interval 2.6–5.8×10²⁹). Calf pre-colostral BIV serostatus was not associated with the occurrence or frequency of clinical signs — but dam BIV serostatus was associated with the odds of occurrence of calf hyperthermia and with the frequency of occurrence of calf hyperthermia and hyperventilatory events. This study is inconclusive about the effects of prenatal BIV infection on neonatal health — but it does provide evidence for the natural occurrence of transplacental BIV infection.     

Attitudes,management practices,and herd performance — a study of Ontario dairy farm managers. II. Associations

An assessment of the importance of farm managers' attitudes, i.e., the farm managers' socio-psychological characteristics, relative to management practices, and with respect to farm performance on southwestern Ontario dairy farms is presented. The assessment was done using a multiple linear regression analysis. Eight dependent variables measuring farm performance were used; namely, retained placenta (%), metritis (%), ovarian disorders (%), other reproductive disorders (%), calving interval (months), culling (%) and herd BCA (breed class average) for fat and milk. Socio-psychological variables appeared in the best regression models of each of the dependent variables, and were found to be quantitatively as important or more so than the management group of variables. In the best regression model for the first six dependent variables, the group of socio-psychological variables explained between 10.8% and 24.5% of the variation in the dependent variable as compared with 0% to 15.5% for the management group of variables. The best regression model for the last two dependent variables showed a synergistic association between the two groups of independent variables.The results of this study indicate that farm managers' attitudes are important when studying farm performance. Attitudes should be measured and considered before proposing management practices to improve farm performance since interactions between attitudes and management practices suggest that attitudes act as effect modifers on the management practices-herd performance relationship. However, further research is needed to better understand the mode of action of managers' attitudes in the dairy farm system.     

Molecular characterization of bovine foamy virus and its association with bovine leukemia virus infection in Vietnamese cattle

The detection of bovine foamy virus (BFV) in Vietnamese cattle was performed using conventional PCR targeting pol and gag genes. Out of 243 tested samples, ten (4.1%) and eight (3.3%) samples were positive for BFV gag and pol DNA, respectively. The prevalence of bovine leukemia virus (BLV) estimated by detection of proviral DNA using nested PCR targeting env gene was 26.7% (65/243). The results of nucleotide sequence alignment and the phylogenetic analysis suggested that Vietnamese BFV strains showed high homology to isolates belonging to either European or non-European clades. There was no significant correlation between BLV and BFV. This study provides information regarding BFV infection and confirms the existence of two BFV clades among Vietnamese cattle for the first time.     

Vertical transmission of bovine leukemia virus and bovine immunodeficiency virus in dairy cattle herds.

Vertical transmission of bovine leukemia virus (BLV) and bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) was investigated in five dairy cattle herds in Hokkaido, where 36.1 and 17.0% of cattle were BLV and BIV seropositive, respectively, and 9.9% of dams were co-infected with both BIV and BLV. Twenty six cases of offspring born from dams infected with only BLV (17 cases) or with both BIV and BLV (9 cases) were examined for the presence of BLV and BIV before and after colostrum feeding by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and syncytium assay. After birth, all calves were separated immediately from their dams. The offspring born from BLV-positive dams were BLV-negative before colostrum feeding, suggesting that no transplacental transmission had occurred. Thereafter, these offspring were fed colostrum or milk from their dams, but still remained BLV-negative. The other offspring born from BLV-positive dams were fed with BLV-negative colostrum, or with pasteurized BLV-positive colostrum. All these calves remained negative for BLV infection, suggesting that in utero transmission of BLV is negligible. In the case of offspring born from dams co-infected with BLV and BIV, calves were BIV-positive before colostrum feeding at 1 day after the birth, indicating in utero transmission of BIV. After colostrum feeding from their dams, newborn calves became BLV-positive. In addition, one calf was BLV-positive even before colostrum feeding. These results suggest that BIV can be transmitted to offspring in utero, and that BLV can be transmitted through colostrum or milk if dams are infected with both BIV and BLV.     

Associations between health and productivity in cow-calf beef herds and persistent infection with bovine viral diarrhea virus, antibodies against bovine viral diarrhea virus, or antibodies against infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus in calves

OBJECTIVE: To measure associations between health and productivity in cow-calf beef herds and persistent infection with bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), antibodies against BVDV, or antibodies against infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) virus in calves. ANIMALS: 1,782 calves from 61 beef herds. PROCEDURES: Calf serum samples were analyzed at weaning for antibodies against type 1 and type 2 BVDV and IBR virus. Skin biopsy specimens from 5,704 weaned calves were tested immunohistochemically to identify persistently infected (PI) calves. Herd production records and individual calf treatment and weaning weight records were collected. RESULTS: There was no association between the proportion of calves with antibodies against BVDV or IBR virus and herd prevalence of abortion, stillbirth, calf death, or nonpregnancy. Calf death risk was higher in herds in which a PI calf was detected, and PI calves were more likely to be treated and typically weighed substantially less than herdmates at weaning. Calves with high antibody titers suggesting exposure to BVDV typically weighed less than calves that had no evidence of exposure. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: BVDV infection, as indicated by the presence of PI calves and serologic evidence of infection in weaned calves, appeared to have the most substantial effect on productivity because of higher calf death risk and treatment risk and lower calf weaning weight.     

Associations between farmers' personal characteristics, management practices and farm performance

A survey was carried out in a random sample of 123 dairy farms from the east of Ireland. The monthly mean production per cow was 315 l of milk and 11.5 kg of fat. The mean log herd somatic cell count was 5.45 (arithmetic mean = 372,573 cells/ml), with almost 50% of the monthly counts over 300,000 cells/ml in a 12-month period. Bivariate and multivariate analysis was performed to assess the relative impact of the personal characteristics of the farmer and the management policies he applied on the amount and quality of the milk produced. In five out of six models the group of variables related to farmers' attitudes, values, and sociodemographic profile explained a similar or greater amount (between 14.44 and 34.35%) of the variation of farm performance than the group of management variables (between 14.33 and 25.99%) as measured by the R2. These results stress the importance of the human factors in explaining variation in farm performance.     

Bovine respiratory syncytial virus and bovine coronavirus in Swedish organic and conventional dairy herds

Background

Infections with bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) and bovine coronavirus (BoCV) are endemic to the cattle populations in most countries, causing respiratory and/or enteric disease. It has been demonstrated that herds can remain free from these infections for several years also in high prevalence areas. Organically managed (OM) dairy herds have been shown to have lower seroprevalence of both viruses compared to conventionally managed (CM) herds. The objective of this study was to challenge the hypothesis of a lower occurrence of BRSV and BoCV in OM compared to CM dairy herds.In November 2011, May 2012 and May 2013 milk samples from four homebred primiparous cows were collected in 75 to 65 OM and 69 to 62 CM herds. The antibody status regarding BRSV and BoCV was analysed with commercial indirect ELISAs. Herds were classified as positive if at least one individual sample was positive.

Results

The prevalence of positive herds ranged from 73.4% to 82.3% for BRSV and from 76.8% to 85.3% for BoCV among OM and CM herds, over the three sampling occasions. There was no statistically significant difference between OM and CM herds at any sampling occasion. The incidence risk of newly infected herds did not differ statistically between OM and CM herds at any sampling occasion, neither for BRSV nor for BoCV. The incidence of herds turning sero-negative between samplings corresponded to the incidence of newly infected. Bulk tank milk (BTM) samples were also sampled in the herds and analysed. Several herds were negative on individual samples but positive in BTM. Herd-level data on production, health and reproduction were retrieved from VÄXA Sweden and the study herds were representative of the source population.

Conclusion

There was no difference in prevalence of or incidence risk for BRSV or BoCV between Swedish OM and CM herds. Because the incidence of herds becoming seropositive was balanced by herds becoming seronegative it should be possible to lower the prevalence of these two infections among Swedish dairy cattle herds if biosecurity is improved.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13028-014-0091-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Associations between Campylobacter fetus, Haemophilus somnus, Leptospira hardjo and bovine viral diarrhea virus antibody titers in dairy cattle from a California herd

In a cross-sectional study, the associations of age, serological status against Campylobacter fetus (CF), Haemophilus somnus (HS) and Leptospira hardjo (LH) with the seroprevalence of bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) in dairy cattle were evaluated. Six hundred and thirty cattle from a herd in Tulare county of California were included in the study. Blood samples from the cattle were collected in December 1986. Enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) was used to determine the positive or negative status of cows against CF, HS, LH and BVDV antigens. Loglinear analysis was used to describe the relationships of four categorical variables with the seroprevalence of BVDV. The final loglinear model was interpreted as a logit model and obtained by conditioning on explanatory variables in the model found to relate significantly with BVDV seropositivity. The hierarchical logit model included two two-way interactions (BVDV × HS and BVDV × LH) and a three-way interaction (BVDV × CF × age). HS-seronegative cattle had 4.7 times greater odds of being BVDV-seropositive compared with HS-seropositive cattle. In contrast, LH-seropositive cattle had 2.7 times increased odds of BVDV seropositivity compared with LH-seronegative cattle. The presence of the three-way interaction term in the model involving age, CF and BVDV seroprevalence implies that among heifers, CF-seronegative and CF-seropositive animals had about the same odds of BVDV seropositivity (e.g. adjusted odds ratios = 20.5 vs. 24.5), whereas, among cows, CF-seronegative animals had at least twice the odds of being BVDV-seropositive than those of CF-seropositive animals (e.g. adjusted odds ratios = 23.0 vs. 11.0).     

Relationships of bovine leukemia virus prevalence in dairy herds and density of dairy cattle to human lymphocytic leukemia

A case-control study was conducted to examine possible relationships between human acute lymphoid leukemia and exposure to dairy cattle and drinking of raw milk. Two hundred twenty-three persons with acute lymphoid leukemia, diagnosed during the years 1969 to 1971 and 1973 to 1980 from the 87 most rural Iowa counties, were accessed from case records at the Iowa State Health Registry for participation in the present study. Each person and 2 matched controls were interviewed for history of residence, exposure to dairy cattle, and consumption of nonpasteurized dairy products. Two types of comparisons between affected persons and controls were done: the prevalence of bovine leukemia virus infection (as measured by serologic study) in dairy herds with which the affected persons and controls had either occupational contact or from which they had consumed raw milk and the density of dairy cattle in the townships where affected persons and controls lived. The bovine leukemia virus infection prevalence in dairy herds with which affected persons had contact was 20%, whereas the infection prevalence in the herds with which the controls had contact was 38%. The density of dairy cows in townships where affected persons resided was generally less than that in townships where controls resided. However, there was one exception; the density of dairy cows at 20 years before diagnosis was higher (589) in townships where affected adult female persons resided, compared with that in townships where controls resided (567).     

A serological survey for bovine immunodeficiency-like virus in Ontario dairy cattle and associations between test results, production records and management practices.

A chemiluminescence Western blot analysis (WBA) for detecting antibovine immunodeficiency-like virus (BIV) antibodies, had good repeatability. The test was subsequently applied to a bank of serum samples from 928 adult cows from 265 herds in Ontario; the number of cows sampled within each herd ranged from 1 to 13. The overall prevalence of anti-BIV antibodies among cows was 5.5% with a 95% confidence interval of 4.2% to 7.2%. In contrast, 18.1% of herds had at least one reactor among cows tested, resulting in a herd-prevalence confidence interval of 13.8% to 23.4%. These estimates of prevalence were in the same range as previous reports from the US and Europe. Bovine immunodeficiency-like virus may have a worldwide distribution. Unfortunately, BIV test sensitivity and specificity are difficult to estimate because virus isolation is inefficient. Therefore, the apparent prevalences could not be adjusted for test sensitivity and specificity, to estimate the true prevalence of infection. The serum samples had previously been tested for antibodies to bovine leukemia virus (BLV). There were no significant associations between BIV and BLV test results. Least squares regression was used to investigate potential associations between BIV test results and selected production indices.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)