A SEROLOGICAL SURVEY OF BOVINE HERPESVIRUS-1 INFECTION IN SELECTED DAIRY HERDS IN NORTHERN AND CENTRAL ITALY

Serum samples from a total of 6979 dairy cattle From 55 herds in north ern Italy (51 herds) and central Italy (4 herds), were examined by the serum neutralization test for the presence of antibody to bovine herp esvirus-l (BHV-1). It was found that 84.31% of the farms selected in n orthern Italy and all the farms from central Italy had seropositive an imals at titers of 1:4 or higher. The prevalence of infection was esse ntially the same among the cattle populations of the two selected area s of the country, bring of 34.99% in the north and of 38.65% in centra l regions. A comparison of the data from the present study with those obtained in a serological survey conducted in Italy in 1966, shows tha t the rate of seropositive cattle to BHV-1 has increased by about 5.0% in the last 30 years. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.