Abstract :
The aim of this study was to report the chronology of Caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus
elimination and compare the blood and semen viral profiles of animals naturally and experimentally
infected by SRLV raised in the semi-arid region of Brazil. The experiment was
carried out at the Brazilian Center for Goat Research (Embrapa). Nine bucks were selected,
four naturally infected by CAEV and five animals proven negative thatwere inoculated with
the goat lentivirus (CAEV-Cork strain). Every week the animals were submitted to semen
collection using an artificial vagina. The blood was collected by puncturing the jugular vein
with tubes containing EDTA, 7 days after inoculation (experimentally infected group) or at
the start of the experiment (naturally infectedgroup) and then at every 30days. The genomic
viral DNA was extracted from semen and blood and then Nested-PCR was applied. An agar
gel microimmunodiffusionwas performed to detect anti-CAEV antibodies. The resultswere
described in percentage and analyzed by the Chi square test (P < 0.05). The presence of anti-
CAEV antibodies was detected in the 16th week after inoculation that characterized the
seroconversion from four of the five naturally infected goat bucks (80%). The fifth reproducer
presented late seroconversion, totaling 32 weeks post-inoculation. A quantity was
observed in the total of samples collected of 12.50 and 17.14% positive results in the blood
and 10.98 and 11.25% positive results in the semen of the naturally and experimentally
infected animals, respectively, and there was no statistical difference. No statistically significant
differences were observed regarding the presence of proviral DNA in the blood and
semen of the naturally and experimentally infected animals. A viral elimination pattern
was not identified during the assessment period, but the presence of proviral DNA was
shown at shorter intervals after the 18th week and the 22nd week, for the experimentally
