CAE types? Pulmonary strain vs others?

[dozedotz]

Hoping our resident almost vet will jump in here as well as anyone who has experience with the pulmonary strain of CAE. First, we do not and have not had CAE. BUT you better believe that we WORRY about it all the time...among all the other worries!! Anyway, on Nubian Talk there is a great discussion going on between primarily 6 M Galaxy and some other folks regarding the types of strains of CAE and how the pulmonary strain is supposed to be the one that is most likely to cross over to adults in a herd from normal contact...and also it is the type that is a total destroyer of the animal in a very short time whereas the other strain(s) are less of A DISEASE in the strict definition of DISEASE because they do not even cause the animal to get sick...The folks involved in the discussion are quoting WADDL scientists and their own vets and at least one person experienced the lethal pulmonary strain and lost many, many excellent animals. WHAT do you all know...and of course, when did you know it!! LOL. Seriously, can anyone add to this..????

[mygoat]

Perhaps some strains are more prone to causing the different symptoms just as some types spread more readily horizontally, and those two facts are likely related. Another large possibility is that this pulmonary CAE strain is actually OPP - ovine progressive pneumonia (http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/resp...and_goats.html)

All CAE types essentially cause damage/thickening of various tissues - usually synovial bursa, and mammary, but also lungs too. OPP is known to transmit in droplets so CAE or OPP, affected lungs are more prone to coughing/wheezing/drainage and probably secondary infections which further cause coughing/wheezing/drainage. I personally haven't heard much talk about a 'pulmonary' strain of CAE vs other strains, so I'm not sure it has been identified as a consistent strain. it is known that there are different strains (PCR test is actually not as good of a test for CAE because of this reason - the primers in a CAE test only cover a very small amount - 3-4? - of strains found, and there are a lot. And being a retrovirus, it changes a lot too. ELISA is still gold standard for this reason.

No matter the strain, it all handles the same. Strict biosecurity and regular testing.

[dozedotz]

Thank you, Dona. The WSU scientist was Jim Everman...if that rings a bell (?)