Immune response to experimental infection with bovine leukemia virus (BLV) in domestic and laboratory animals

The immune response to cell-associated and cell-free BLV inoculation was studied in calves, lambs, rabbits and specific pathogen-free chickens. Inoculation of cell-associated or cell-free BLV failed to induce infection in rabbits and chickens (strain PDRC), but resulted in the infection of Holstein-Frize calves and of lambs, which exhibited a specific immune response over the entire observation period. Specific antibodies to glycoprotein and p24 fractions of BLV were detected in the infected animals. BLV could be recovered from serologically positive animals.