Detecção molecular do vírus da imunodeficiência bovina (BIV) em búfalos (Bubalus bubalis) no estado Pará

Abstract

Bovine viral immunodeficiency is a chronic and progressive disease caused by a lentivirus that affects cattle and buffalo. Although infection is reported in cattle in several countries, including Brazil, in buffalo there are only two reports of infection, one in Pakistan and one in Cambodia. The aim of this research was to verify the occurrence of bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) in buffaloes from the state of Pará, northern Brazil. To verify the occurrence of BIV in herds, the detection of proviral DNA in blood samples from 607 buffaloes obtained from 10 properties in the State of Pará, by semi-nested polymerase chain reaction (snPCR) were made using primers specific for the pol region in the genome of the virus. The 607 samples tested by snPCR for the BIV, 27 (4.4%) were positive. The amplified sequences were confirmed by cloning and nucleotide sequencing. The similarity of nucleotide sequence of the isolates with the reference strain (R-29) was 99%. Epidemiologically, this study provides important initial data, reporting the first detection of BIV in buffaloes in the Brazil and warning of the possibility of the virus function as a risk factor for the health of populations of buffaloes and a potential causative agent of chronic disease.