A serological survey of parainfluenza-3 virus in South American camelids from Chile

Abstract

A total of 370 sera collected from 87 alpacas (Lama pacos), 88 llamas (Lama glama), 89 guanacos (Lama guanicoe) and 106 vicunas (Vicugna vicugna) were investigated for the presence of antibodies to parainfluenza 3 virus (PIV-3). Hemagglutination inhibition test indicated that a total of 91 (24.6%) South American camelids (SAC) had PIV-3 antibodies, including 18 (20.7%) alpacas, 36 (40.9%) llamas, 27 (18.9%) vicunas and 10 (11.2%) guanacos. Titers of the positive samples ranged from 8 to 256 with a geometric mean of 31. These results establish that SAC in Chile are infected with PIV-3.