ABSTRACT
Caprine arthritis encephalitis is a multisystemic infectious disease caused by a lentivirus and may affect animals of any age or sex. The major symptoms are leukoencephalomyelitis, chronic interstitial pneumonia, arthritis and hardening interstitial mastitis. It has been reported that the testicles of infected animals present infected semen and a gradual inflammatory process. For the detection of the agent in semen samples, PCR and nested PCR techniques are characterized as methods with high specificity and sensibility that provide fast results. The objective of this study was to detect the presence of pro-lentiviral DNA in the semen of caprine males in São Paulo State, Brazil, by the PCR and nested PCR molecular techniques. Five (29.4%) of the 17 samples presented positivity for the detection of the virus, proving the presence of viral particles in the semen of male goats seropositive for caprine arthritis encephalitis in this study.
KEY WORDS
Caprine; caprine arthritis encephalitis; Lentivirus; semen; nested PCR
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