Isolation of the bovine viral diarrhoea virus from tissue of clinically affected cattle

Abstract

Cattle infected with the bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) virus can present a variety of clinical signs. This research studied the presence of BVD virus in cattle by virus isolation in primary cell cultures of bovine embryo lungs. Virus identification was done using the immunoperoxidase staining assay and the direct fluorescent antibody staining.

As a result, 23 out of 33 animals were identified as positive to BVD virus: 14 foetal abortions, 2 stillbirths, 3 dams, 2 steers and 2 calves. No cytopathogenic isolates were found through three consecutive passages in cell cultures.

The results suggest that the BVD virus is present in cattle with clinical signs, but the possible role of its pathogenesis was not studied.