Presence of antibodies to bovine viral diarrhea-mucosal disease virus (border disease) in sheep and goat flocks in Quebec.

A seroepidemiological studyof border disease wasconducted insheep andgoats invarious areas ofQuebec. Seraof10%ofanimals ofselected flocks werecollected andspecific antibodies against bovineviral diarrhea-musosal disease weretested byseroneutralizati on. Results show that 10.9% and16%ofsheep andgoats respectively gaveapositive reaction. Thelower serological prevalence was foundinsheepflocks oftheSherbrooke area(5.4%) while thehighest percentage ofpositive serawas observed intheQuebecarea(24.7%). Theprevalence ingoats varied accordingtoareas (2.6 to45.5%). Norelation wasobserved inseropositive animals between age, sex, breed andthepresenceofabortions intheflocks. Our serological results indicate that border disease isprobably present inQuebec sheep andgoat flocks butthat theclinical diagnosis ofthis disease isnotwell established.