[Bovine immunodeficiency virus: short review]

A bovine visna-like virus was isolated by Van Der Maaten et al (1972) but it did not draw attention since, at that time, most efforts were directed towards research on bovine leukemia virus. However, new interest was shown on the bovine visna-like virus after the isolation of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), because of the urgent need for developing animal models for the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The purpose of this paper is to describe the different stages of the identification of the bovine virus and to up-date knowledge about it. The bovine visna-like virus has recently been named the bovine immuno-deficiency-like virus (BIV) and is the sole bovine lentivirus known to-date. BIV shares morphologic, antigenic and genomic characteristics with other lentiviruses. It grows and induces large syncytia in vitro and generates virus-productive and latent infections in cell culture. It causes persistent infection and slow progressive disease in cattle and probably in sheep. As target cells of the virus are leukocytes, the type of which is unknown, perturbations of the immune system are expected. Consequently, BIV may potentiate the occurrence of secondary infections and play a role in retroviral, multiple infections. It is not oncogenic. Transmission appears to occur in cattle by contact, but evidence of transmission in human beings has not been shown. Finally, BIV may be a potential model in vitro and in vivo for HIV and AIDS.