Use of small ruminant lentivirus-infected rams for artificial insemination.

The presence of proviral DNA, mRNA transcripts and/or viral proteins in small ruminant lentiviral infections may be intermittent. The aim of this study was to identify methods of avoiding small ruminant lentivirus (SRLV) transmission to ewes when using infected rams in artificial insemination (AI). Semen from rams, seropositive and PCR-positive in blood but consistently negative for both proviral DNA and viral protein expression in semen, was used to artificially inseminate 19 ewes.