CAEV can be detected in seminal fluid

A recent online article reported that for his PhD thesis veterinary surgeon Hugo Ramírez Álvarez showed that goat seminal fluid can be used to detect antibodies to caprine arthritis encephalitis virus (CAEV). His study had four purposes:

• to characterize the genetic type of the lentivirus present in a mixed flock of sheep and goats born in Mexico
• to study the virus in different organs/tissues of sheep from Castille & León (Spain) affected by a visna (OPPV) outbreak, to determine what extent the type of virus is responsible for the clinical symptoms described in this outbreak
• to evaluate the effectiveness of the commercial ELISA tests (techniques for detecting the presence of antibodies, especially blood samples) and those designed in this research with short chains of proteins (peptides), and
  
• to diagnose the infection through lentivirus based on seminal fluid antibodies.

The study did not address transmission of the disease through breeding.