DETECTION OF JEMBRANA-DISEASE VIRUS IN SPLEEN, LYMPH-NODES, BONE-MARROW AND OTHER TISSUES BY IN-SITU HYBRIDIZATION OF PARAFFIN-EMBEDDED SECTIONS

Jembrana disease virus (JDV) is a lentivirus that causes an acute, sev ere disease syndrome in infected gall cattle in Indonesia. An in situ hybridization technique was developed that detected JDV genomic RNA in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue sections, using a digoxigenin -labelled riboprobe. Large numbers of JDV-infected cells were demonstr ated in many tissue sections from experimentally infected animals earl y in the disease course, which was consistent with the extremely high circulating viraemia previously reported to occur during the febrile p hase. The number of infected cells was consistently highest in section s of spleen, followed by many other tissues including lymph nodes, lun gs, bone marrow, liver and kidney. Infected cells were also identified in the general circulation and within unusual intravascular lesions i n lung sections, The relatively high level of infection found in bone marrow suggested that its involvement may be important in the disease pathogenesis, as it is with other lentiviruses.