VIROLOGICAL MARKERS IN CEREBROSPINAL-FLUID ARE PREDICTIVE OF OVINE LENTIVIRUS-ASSOCIATED SUBCLINICAL ENCEPHALOMYELITIS

Encephalomyelitis is a sequela to ovine lentivirus (OVLV) and human im munodeficiency virus infections. Examination of autopsy tissue from 38 naturally infected asymptomatic sheep showed that 7 (18%) had subclin ical neurological lesions characterized by perivascular and periventri cular infiltrates of lymphocytes and histiocytes in the leptomeninges, cerebral white matter, choroid plexus, and/or cervical spinal cord. I ntralesional histiocytes were shown to contain lentiviral capsid prote ins or RNA. Infectious virus (2/7), viral proteins (4/7), and antivira l antibody (5/7) were only detected in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from animals with central nervous system (CNS) lesions associated with OVLV infection, suggesting that such virologic markers in CSF, when used c oncurrently, are predictive of pathologic changes specific to the CNS. (C) 1995 Academic Press,Inc.