Seroprevalence of caprine arthritis encephalitis virus in goats in Khuzestan Province

Caprine arthritis encephalitis (CAE) is a viral disease of goats, which caused by a Lentivirus and characterized by symptoms such as arthritis, pneumonia, mastitis and encephalitis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of caprine arthritis encephalitis infection and association of this infection with host and environmental determinants in goat in Khuzestan Province. Serum samples were randomly collected from 368 goats in Shoushtar, Izeh, Dezfool, Susangerd, Hendijan and Ahvaz cities and were examined by ELISA assay. Seroprevalence rate caprine arthritis encephalitis was 14.67% (95% CI. 11.06-18.28%). Logistic regression showed that the odds of infection between age based on year and infection is 1.11 (95% CL: 0.93-1.31) (P>0.05). The odds of infection in male goats 1.42 (95% CI: 0.51- 3.95) compared to that in females (P>0.05) and 0.2% of fluctuation in infection was justified by sexuality. In comparison to goats with history of abortion, the odds of infection in goats without a history of abortion was 1.48 (95% CI: 0.6-3.66) and 0.4% fluctuation in infection was justified by this factor. Relative frequency of infection in Shoushtar, Izeh, Dezfool, Susangerd, Hendijan and Ahvaz, were 31.67%, 21.31%, 15%, 12%, 8.75%, 3.9% respectively (P<0.01) and 11.8% of fluctuation in infection was justified by geographical location. This study confirms the presence of caprine arthritis encephalitis virus in the goat herds in Khuzestan Province, so, prevention and control programs should be considered by health authorities and livestock owners.