Frequent detection of reviraemia in ducks persistently infected with avian leukosis retroviruses.

: Ducks intraembryonally infected with avian leukosis viruses of subgroup C (ALV-C) were followed for a long period (up to 6.8 years), and the viraemia and production of virus-neutralizing antibodies were measured. In three independent experiments comprising ducks inoculated with uncloned and/or molecularly cloned ALV-C, we found that after the elimination of primary post-hatching viraemia, reviraemia could be detected in 60-70% of infected animals. Based on the course of viraemia, the individual ducks were assigned to four different groups: Group I (no reviraemia), Group II (one transient reviraemic period), Group III (one persistent reviraemic period), Group IV (fluctuating reviraemia). In comparison to sera from ducks included in Group I and/or II, a significant decrease in neutralizing activity of sera from animals comprised in Group III and/or IV was observed. Two out of four reviraemic viruses were not neutralized by antiserum against ALV-C, instead their infectivity was enhanced. Long-term follow-up of the cell-associated virus revealed that its rescuability by cocultivation with chicken embryo fibroblasts fluctuated in about 50% of animals. In the reviraemic phase of infection, integrated proviruses could be detected by Southern blotting in a majority of tissues examined. Our data document that many features recognized in lentiviruses are valid also for oncoviruses transmitted to heterologous hosts and substantiate further the suitability of ALV-C-infected ducks as a model for studying persistent retroviral infection.