The transmission of maedi-visna wirus (MVV) through embryons collected from virus infected ewes and then transferred to uninfected recipients was investigated. Early sheep embryos were isolated from four in vivo-fertilized, MVV infected donors, which were determined to be positive by ELISA and PCR. A total of fifty-two morula and blastocyst stage embryos were washed ten times and transferred (two or three per recipient) to twenty-two serologically negative sheep. Three ewes became pregnant, delivering three live kids out of which one died immediately after delivery. All two kids were then kept over 72-weeks-of-age and neither MVV specific antibodies nor proviral DNA was found in the blood samples collected before colostrum suckling, as well as after 14, 32, 56 and 72-weeks-of-age. Additionally, no active virus particules were found when tested by syncytia formation assay. This study demonstrated that it is possible to obtain transferable stage embryos from donor ewes infected with MVV, in vivo fertilized by infected rams, and that collected embryos are unlikely to transmit MVV infection to the resulting offspring.
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