DETECÇÃO DE ANTICORPOS HETERÓLOGOS CONTRA O VÍRUS DA LEUCOSE ENZOÓTICA BOVINA EM CAPRINOS (DETECTION OF HETEROLOGOUS ANTI BOVINE LEUKEMIA VIRUS ANTIBODIES IN GOATS) (DETECCIÓN DE ANTICUERPOS HETERÓLOGOS CONTRA EL VÍRUS DE LA LEUCOSIS ENZOÓTICA BOVINA EN CAPRINOS)

SUMMARY In this study, we investigated the possibility of the transmission of bovine leukemia virus (BLV) to newborn goat kids fed with colostrum obtained from enzootic bovine leukosis (EBL) seropositive cows. Thirty-one kids were separated from their dams at birth and they were fed with colostrum obtained from 11 cows serologically tested for EBL. Serum samples were collected from kids at 3, 45, 80, 120 and 160 days of age and, afterwards, at approximately 4 years of age to detect anti-BLV antibodies by agar gel immunodiffusion test (AGID). The BLV glycoprotein gp51 was used as antigen in the AGID test. It was found that serum antibodies were detected in most of kids fed with colostrum from seropositive cows