Sero-prevalence survey of small ruminant lentivirus (SRLV) infections in Kosovo

Abstract

The objectives of this cross-sectional study were to detect the presence of small ruminant lentiviral infections in Kosovo and estimate the serological prevalence for the year of 2016. A total of 5.272 sheep and 435 goats were tested using a commercially available indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for Maedi-Visna/Caprine Arthritis-Encephalitis, giving an overall individual sero-prevalence in sheep of 34.8% (95% confidence interval 31.8% to 38.0%), and a flock prevalence of 85%, and in goats an overall individual sero-prevalence of 15.6% (95% confidence interval 7.2% to 25.6%) and flock prevalence of 35%. Sero-prevalence in sheep was higher in the South and West of Kosovo, whereas in goats was higher in the East and South. There were no statistically significant differences in sero-prevalence between sheep in different age groups <2 year to ≥4 year. There were statistically significant differences between the age groups in goats: chi square 25.74 (3d.f.) with P-value <0.0001. Increasing sero-prevalence observed in goats up to 4 years old with a sharp drop in goats older than four years highlights the need for further investigation based on clinical impact and genotype characterization. While retained sero-positive sheep in the population beyond 4 years old may suggest mild clinical impact of small ruminant lentiviral infections in Kosovo sheep.