Original Scientific Article
Sero-prevalence of bovine leukemia virus infection in Kosovo cattle
Valdet Gjinovci ,
Armend Cana * ,
Mentor Alishani ,
Dafina Mehmetukaj ,
Nick Taylor ,
Naomi Honhold

Mac Vet Rev 2020; 43 (2): 175 - 183

10.2478/macvetrev-2020-0030

Received: 06 February 2020

Received in revised form: 10 September 2020

Accepted: 22 September 2020

Available Online First: 01 October 2020

Published on: 15 October 2020

Correspondence: Armend Cana, armend.cana@rks-gov.net
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Abstract

A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Kosovo to determine the presence and prevalence of bovine leukemia virus antibodies in cattle. A total of 5,051 serum samples from 315 villages were collected during 2016. Samples were tested using commercial indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. At least one sero-positive animal was found in 55 (17.5%) of the villages sampled, of which 23 had more than one sero-positive detected. Overall individual sero-prevalence, corrected for geographic distribution of samples, was found to be 2.26% (95% c.i. 1.62% to 3.04%). There were no statistically significant associations between serological status and herd size or age of animal, although sero-prevalence in 5-year-old cattle was higher than in the other ages. There was a statistical significant heterogeneity in sero-prevalence between different geographic zones of Kosovo (chi‐square value = 20.68 (4 d.f.); (p=0.0004). Pairwise comparisons showed that sero‐prevalence in the south was significantly higher than in the east and in the north and sero‐prevalence in the west was significantly higher than in the north. The 3.11% aggregated sero-prevalence for the two highest sero-prevalence zones, south and west, was significantly higher than the 1.57% aggregated sero-prevalence for the remaining zones, centre, east and north (Fisher exact p‐value (2‐tail) = 0.0004). The reason for higher prevalence in the south and west of Kosovo is uncertain. These results may serve to enrich the information of bovine leukemia virus distribution in the region, as well as a starting point for the future control and eradication strategy in Kosovo.

Keywords: bovine leukemia virus, epidemiology, sero-prevalence, Kosovo

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Copyright

© 2020 Gjinovci V. This is an open-access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Citation Information

Macedonian Veterinary Review. Volume 43, Issue 2, Pages 175-183, e-ISSN 1857-7415, p-ISSN 1409-7621, DOI: 10.2478/macvetrev-2020-0030, 2020

The all content of the Macedonian Veterinary Review, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.