Experimental Infection of Sheep and Goats with Caprine Arthritis-Encephalitis Virus

Y Sir, — The isolation of caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus (CAEV) from the carpal joint of a yearling goat with chronic interstitial pneumonia is reported in this issue of the Journal.(3) We wish to report on the experimental infection of sheep and goats with this isolate of CAEV. Two 20-month-old Romney lambs (483, 485) and two 2-month-old feral goat kids (43, 45) were inoculated with CAEV suspension (104.0 median tissue culture infective doses [TCID50ml]). Each animal was inoculated with 1.0 ml of virus suspension by each of the following routes: intravenous, intracerebral into the right cerebral hemisphere and intra-articularly into the right radio-carpal joint.(4) An additional control lamb (490) and goat kid (44) were inoculated in identical fashion with cell culture fluid from uninfected goat synovial membrane cells.