ASSOCIATION OF A RETROVIRUS WITH A WASTING CONDITION IN THE SWEDISH MOOSE

A wasting disease in moose (Alces alces) has killed more than one thou sand animals in a densely populated, limited geographical area in Swed en. To investigate the cause, local environmental conditions were stud ied and infectious agents, mainly viruses, were looked for. A virus, i dentified as a retrovirus, has repeatedly been isolated from diseased animals by cocultivation of their leukocytes with fetal moose kidney c ells. The virus has the characteristics of a member of the Oncovirinae subfamily, as deduced from its morphology from EM studies, reverse tr anscriptase activity, cell transforming properties, and serological cr oss-reactivity with other oncoviruses. Striking features of the diseas e are the poor and transient capacity of affected moose to respond ser ologically in addition to the frequent presence of high levels of reve rse transcriptase activity in their sera. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc .