34 Journal of Buffalo Science, 2018, 7, 34-37 ISSN: 1927-5196 / E-ISSN: 1927-520X/18 © 2018 Lifescience Global Prevalence of Bovine Immunodeficiency Virus Infection in Buffaloes in East Azerbaijan, Northwestern Iran Mohammad Tolouei-Kaleibar 1,* , Morteza Mozaffari 2 , Javad Ashrafi 3 , Golamreza Nikbakht 4 and Ezzatollah Fathi 5 1 Large Animal Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran 2 Large Animal Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran 3 Veterinary Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran 4 Veterinary Virology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran 5 Veterinary Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran Abstract: Bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) has a worldwide distribution, but its prevalence in different regions of Iran is unknown. In this study, for the first time, the presence of BIV infections is detected by using the PCR method in Iranian water buffalo in East Azerbaijan. For this matter, blood samples were taken from 83 randomly selected buffaloes slaughtered in Tabriz industrial slaughterhouse from June to October 2012. All of the animals were clinically examined before sampling. Viral Gene-spin™ Viral DNA/RNA Extraction Kit was used to extract the DNA, and PCR was performed on the extracted DNA using oligonucleotiode primers specific for the gag gene region of the BIV virus. The prevalence of BIV in buffaloes was 2.4% (2 of 83), which is less than the prevalence of BIV in Pakistan (10.3%) and India (19%). The low prevalence observed in this study may be due to our small sample size. Keywords: Bovine immunodeficiency virus, PCR, Buffalo, Iran. INTRODUCTION Bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) is a lentivirus. Lentiviruses are a widely disseminated group of exogenous non-oncogenic retroviruses, which include visna-maedi virus of sheep, equine infectious anaemia virus (EIAV), caprine arthritis encephalitis virus (CAEV), bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV), feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and jembrana disease virus (JDV). These viruses are genetically related and share certain biologic and pathogenic characteristics [1]. There is also cross-reactivity between antigens of different lentiviruses [2, 3]. BIV is also closely related to the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) [4, 5]. BIV was originally isolated from an 8-year-old dairy cow with persistent lymphocytosis, progressive weakness and wasting and was appointed in 1972 as R29 [6]. After BIV’s recognition as a lentivirus in the late 1980s, it has been shown that the BIV infections occur widely, causing lifelong and generally subclinical diseases [7]. BIV infections have been shown to be variably associated with alterations in animal production, weight loss, secondary diseases, decreased milk production *Address correspondence to this author at the Large Animal Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran; Tel: 09141080928; E-mail: Mtooloei@tabrizu.ac.ir and increased incidence of encephalitis [8-10]. Whether BIV transmission via uterus, placenta, colostrum, or milk is still under investigation but Proviral DNA of BIV was also detected in bull semen [11, 12]. and it has been shown that the seroprevalence of BIV infection increases according to the aging of animals in the same dairy herd, suggesting that BIV would be possibly transmitted through natural or artificial inseminations, and/or through blood instrument or blood sucking insects [13-15]. Although BIV induces dysfunction in monocytes and neutrophils, BIV inoculated calves did not exhibit severe clinical symptoms, so pathogenesis of BIV remains unclear [16-18]. The clinical significance of BIV infection can depend on the strain of BIV, breed of the cattle, and environmental stressors [19]. Buffalo is a native animal of Iran and East Azerbaijan province, with a total population of about 92620, is one of the most important regions of buffalo farming. As there is no data on BIV in Iranian buffaloes, we conducted the prevalence of this infection in Azerbaijan. MATERIALS AND METHODS Blood Sampling A total of 83 whole peripheral blood samples were collected from randomly selected Asian water buffalos