Response of merino sheep to inoculation with a caprine retrovirus.

Maedi-visna has never been recorded in Australia. However, caprine retroviruses have been isolated which cause clinical disease similar to caprine arthritis-encephalitis and produce antibodies in goats similar to those caused by maedi-visna virus. Merino lambs in close contact for up to 109 weeks with three goats experimentally infected with a caprine retrovirus did not seroconvert or show any significant pathological lesions.

Preparation and evaluation of antigens used in serological tests for caprine syncytial retrovirus antibody in sheep and goat sera.

Methods used to prepare antigens from caprine syncytial retrovirus (CSR) for use in the agarose gel immunodiffusion test (AGID) or an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) are described. Caprine and ovine sera were tested for antibody to CSR using the AGID test and ELISA incorporating a caprine system (CSR antigen and rabbit anti-goat IgG) or an ovine system (maedi-visna virus antigen and rabbit anti-sheep IgG). Good correlation was achieved in the results of the 3 tests when sera were devoid of antibody or were strongly positive.

A serological survey for bluetongue virus antibody in Western Australia.

A serological survey was carried out to detect specific (serotype 20) and a group bluetongue virus antibody in cattle and sheep serums collected in Western Australia during the period January 1 1978 to June 30 1979. Of 18,849 cattle serums examined by the gel diffusion precipitin test (GDPT), 9.7% were positive and 6.

A possible bovine polyomavirus.

A virus with the characteristics of a polyomavirus was isolated from tissue cultures prepared from the kidneys of a healthy new-born calf.