Slow Viruses In Sheep Goats And Cattle In Particular Maedi Visna Jaagsiekte And In Caprines Arthritis Encephalitis And Pneumonitis Proceedings Of 2 Workshops Reykjavik Iceland 13 14 July 1982 Edinburgh Uk 13 14 September 1983

Author : G. Pétursson
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1461316138
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (613 download)

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Download or read book Maedi-Visna and Related Diseases written by G. Pétursson and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: G. Petursson and Rikke Hoff-J0rgensen The concept of slow viral infections was first put forward in 1954 by Dr. Bjorn Sigurdsson, an Icelandic physician who had been studying some sheep diseases which were introduced into Iceland with the importation of a foreign breed of sheep in 1933. Sigurdsson's main criteria for defining slow infec tions were a very long initial period without clinical signs lasting months or even years following infection and a rather regular protracted, progres sive course, once clinical symptoms had appeared, usually ending in serious disease or death. Sigurdsson included in this list of slow infections maedi -visna, infectious adenomatosis of sheep, scrapie in sheep, Bittner's mam mary carcinoma and Gross' leukemia in mice. All of these diseases, except scrapie, are caused by retroviruses. The characteristics of slow infections as described above are of prac tical importance for epidemiology, diagnosis and control of these diseases. For many years the slow infections remained primarily a veterinary problem, mainly affecting sheep and goats in certain countries. In recent years, how ever, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) causing acquired immunodefici ency syndrome (AIDS), has suddenly appeared in many countries of the world and brought the slow infection concept forcefully to the attention of the medical profession. The disease problems and the economic effects of slow infections of sheep and goats are increasingly recognized in various coun tries. For the reasons stated above we feel that this book should be useful for veterinarians and physicians alike.