VIROLOGICAL AND IMMUNOLOGICAL STUDIES OF WESSELSBRON VIRUS IN EXPERIMENTALLY INFECTED RED SOKOTO (MARADI) GOATS

Red Sokoto goats aged four to five months were experimentally infected with the Nigerian strain of Wesselsbron virus. Viraemia commenced 24- 72 hours after infection and lasted for 3-4 days. A febrile reaction w hich was mostly biphasic coincided with viraemia. A 50% mortality rate was observed among infected animals. The virus was re-isolated in mic e from almost every tissue (liver, spleen, lungs, brain, kidney, adren al, lymph node and heart) obtained from dead goats. Complement fixing antigens were detected in the tissues of dead goats, the titre of whic h correlated positively with the infectivity titre. All infected anima ls developed complement-fixing and haemagglutination inhibiting antibo dies to Wesselsbron virus. However, neutralizing antibody was detected only in goats that survived the infection.