Article ID: 11-0133
Surveillance of jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus (JSRV) infection was performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of blood DNA samples collected from 40 sheep and goats in 10 different flocks in Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan. No exogenous (oncogenic) JSRV sequence was detected by the PCR in these samples, while the ovine endogenous retrovirus sequence was successfully amplified in all samples. Our paper is the first demonstration of JSRV surveillance in Japan, and shows no evidence of oncogenic JSRV infection in sheep and goats in Hokkaido.