[Experimental studies on maedi-visna]

In order to study pathogenicity of sheep lentiviruses, to obtain monospecific sera and to perfect ELISA, 3 experiments with different strains were carried out for 4 yr. In expt 1, one clone only of a French maedi-visna strain (564-79) elicits a clear seroconversion in inoculated sheep. In expt 2, K1514 is more immunogenic than K796 and PPV: intratracheal route seems more efficient than intracerebral route. Sheep infected by ts mutants (expt 3) are early positive as wild strain K796. Nevertheless, the level of positivity is less important than for the parental strain, suggesting that the defect of the ts mutants is not limiting their replication in vivo. An important result is the lack of clinical signs and anatomical and histopathological lesions, in spite of frequent isolations of virus from buffy coat cells. These results suggest that: different enhancing factors have to be taken in account in the apparition of clinical signs; all the clones are not infectious; viral infection might be effective with several types of virions.