Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus Across Asia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prevalence in Cattle Population...

Bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) is a highly contagious and vertically transmitted pathogen that poses a significant economic threat to cattle herds worldwide.

This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to estimate the overall prevalence and identify associated risk factors of BVDV in Asian countries between 2000 and 2025.

Articles published within the specified time periods were retrieved by searching multiple databases. A random-effects meta-analysis and meta-regression model were performed to analyse the datasets.

A total of 133 articles from 22 Asian countries reported the prevalence of BVDV in cattle. Based on data from 160,042 cattle, the pooled seroprevalence was estimated at 40.50%, while antigen prevalence, derived from 44,636 cattle, was 9.0%. Among the five Asian regions, a higher antigen and seroprevalence of BVDV was recorded from East (10.30% and 53.10%, respectively) and West Asia (10.80% and 49.0%, respectively). At the country level, high seroprevalence of BVDV was reported in China (62.90%), Turkey (58.00%), Iran (47.90%) and Indonesia (44.10%), while high active-infection rates were observed in China (19.20%), Iraq (17.40%) and South Korea (16.90%). In the antibody dataset, the prevalence varied significantly across regional categories and economic status. In contrast, in the antigen dataset, significant differences were observed across regional categories, sample types and study-design subgroups. This meta-analysis revealed that animal-level antigen and antibody prevalence vary across all regions of Asia.

The findings emphasize the need for region-specific, targeted control strategies, especially in dairy herds at high risk of active infection, to mitigate the spread and epidemiological impact of BVDV.