English

Rivera Morales Lydia,Zapata Benavides Pablo,Trejo Avila Laura,Avalos Ramiacute Rez Ramiro,Riojas Valdeacute S Viacute Ctor,A Salinas Meleacute Ndez Joseacute,E Zamora Avila Diana,Cedillo Rosales Sibilina,J Zarate Ramos Juan

doi:10.5897/ajmr12.424

Abstract

Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is a retrovirus that primarily infects older dairy cattle, but many studies have shown that the BLV host range is broader than previously reported.Monitoring risk groups, such as slaughterhouse workers, is important to determine if BLVcan infect humans and cause disease.The aim of this study was to determine whether slaughterhouse workers can be infected with the BLV. We also determined the seroprevalence of human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV-I/II) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to rule out cross-reactivity. This study included 28 blood samples from 28 slaughterhouse workers from a cattle butchery in San Nicolas de los Garza, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. BLV was analyzed using an agar gel immunodiffusion test (IDAG), Western blotting, and PCR. The seroprevalence of HTLV-I/II and HIV were determined with passive agglutination and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), respectively. Two samples (7.1%) were positive for BLV with IDAG, and this was confirmed with Western blotting. All samples were HTLV-I/II negative, and only one worker was HIV positive but BLV negative. These results suggest that humans are not necessarily infected with BLV, but rather seropositivity results from an abortive infection. Key words: Bovine leukemia virus (BLV), slaughterhouse workers, Mexico, agar gel immunodiffusion test (IDAG).

Highlights

Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) belongs to a family of oncogenic retroviruses that includes human T cell leukemia virus type I and II (HTLV-I and II) and simian Tcell leukemia virus (Hajj et al, 2012; Rodríguez et al, 2011)
Using the serological IDAG test for BLV, we found two samples (7.1%) that were positive for BLV antibodies; sample 4 was from a 39-year-old worker with nine years of service, and sample 28 was from a 58-year-old worker with 20 years of service (Figure 1)
PCR amplification of the gag gene to identify the BLV provirus was negative in all samples, including the two samples that were positive for BLV antibodies; only the control FLK-BLV cell line was positive as expected (Figure 3)

Summary

Introduction

Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) belongs to a family of oncogenic retroviruses that includes human T cell leukemia virus type I and II (HTLV-I and II) and simian Tcell leukemia virus (Hajj et al, 2012; Rodríguez et al, 2011). These retroviruses share a common genomic organization (Sagata et al, 1985) and are associated with lymphoid neoplasia and/or progressive myelopathies.

Objectives

Methods

Results