Prevalence of bovine viral diarrhoea virus antibodies in India

A study was undertaken regarding the prevalence of bovine viral diarrhoea v irus (BVDV) antibodies in bovine sera which tested negative for rinderpest and peste des petits ruminants virus antibodies. The samples were collected between January 1996 and December 1997. A total of 439 samples (327 cattle and 112 buffalo from 17 states of India) were tested using a commercial en zyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. The mean prevalence of BVDV an tibodies in cattle was 15.29% (50/327) in 16 states compared to 23.21% (26/ 112) in buffalo in 9 states, with an overall prevalence of 17.31% (76/439) in 17 states. The serological evidence that BVDV infection is widespread in India is of utmost practical importance because of the clinical resemblanc e to rinderpest. A differential diagnosis between these two diseases is cri tical in view of the declaration by India of provisional freedom from rinde rpest disease; active sere-surveillance is to begin in 2000 to achieve cert ification of freedom from rinderpest infection by the Office International des Epizooties.