Borna disease virus RNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells obtained from healthy dairy cattle.

Abstract

We examined natural infection of Borna disease virus (BDV) in 74 healthy dairy cattle in Japan. The seroprevalence determined using recombinant BDV p24 protein was 20.3%. The prevalence of BDV RNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) determined by polymerase chain reaction for p24 was 10.8%. Cell fraction of the PBMCs revealed the presence of BDV RNA in the T cell-enriched fraction. Thus, BDV infection is widespread even among healthy cattle.