Seroprevalence of bovine immunodeficiency virus in dairy and beef cattle herds in Korea

Infection of bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV), a lentivirus, is thought to sporadically occur throughout the world, but seroepidemiological surveys concerning the incidence of BIV are limited and have not been undertaken i n Korea. A total of 266 sera from different twenty dairy (Holstein) and twe nty-six Korean native beef (Hanwoo) farms of the south-western part of Kore a was analyzed for the presence of anti-BIV antibodies by Western blotting. Thirty five percent and 33% of dairy and beef cattle, respectively, were B IV-seropositive. By nested polymerase chain reaction, it was confirmed that these seropositive cows had provirus in the peripheral blood mononuclear c ells. To demonstrate the correlation with BIV and bovine leukemia virus (BL V) infection, these sera were also analyzed for anti-BLV antibodies by immu nodiffusion test, resulting in high prevalence of BLV infection but relativ ely a few dual infections. We report herein the first serological detection of antibodies to BIV in Korea.