The aims of this study were to determine the seroprevalence of infection by ruminants Lentivirus in dairy goats in the semiarid of the Paraiba State, Northeastern Brazil, to identify risk factors associated with the herd-level prevalence and to perform molecular detection of the agent. A total of 1,047 dairy goats from 110 herds were randomly selected from the county of Monteiro, Paraiba State, and serum samples were collected from March 2009 to December 2011. For the diagnosis of Lentivirus infection, the agar gel immunodiffusion test (AGID) was used. One year after that a new serology was performed and the real-time PCR assay was applied in blood and milk samples from 48 goats from four herds with seropositive animals. Prevalence of positive herds and seropositive animals at AGID were 44.6% (95% CI=35.1-54.3%) and 8.1% (95% CI =5.6-16.8%), respectively. Umbilical cord cutting and disinfection (odds ratio = 2.44; p = 0.048) and conditions of animal agglomeration (odds ratio=3.45; p=0.048) were associated with herd-level prevalence. One year after the serological profile, the permanence of infected animals detected by real-time PCR in blood and milk samples was verified. Real-time PCR using white blood cells had a good performance, with sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 92.86%, concordance of 93.75% and Kappa index of 0.765. It was suggested to teach sanitary measures to the herd owners in order to encourage them to adopt prevention measures aiming to reduce the spread of the infection in the herds.
Lentivirus; caprine arthritis-encephalitis; dairy goats; seroepidemiology; real-time PCR
