ABNORMALITIES AND VIRUS-LIKE PARTICLES IN SPERMATOZOA FROM BULLS LATENTLY INFECTED WITH BLUETONGUE VIRUS

  • 1 January 1980
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 41  (7) , 1045-1048
Abstract
Abnormalities were commonly observed in spermatozoa and bluetongue virus (BTV) was isolated from semen of 2 known BTV carrier bulls and 2 of 4 BTV seropositive field bulls. The spermatozoal abnormalities ranged from a small cavity between the acrosome and nucleus with some involvement of the nucleus to an enlargement of the cavity accompanied by vesiculation that could affect the entire acrosome. Virus-like particles were occasionally observed in the affected spermatozoa but were present in all samples. A positive relationship was found between infectivity of semen samples from BTV latently infected bulls and the observation of abnormalities and virus-like particles in the heads of affected spermatozoa.