Inspection of Commercially Available Fetal Bovine Sera Collected between 2017 and 2021 for the Contamination of Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus

Abstract

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) is one of the high-risk agents for contamination in fetal bovine serum (FBS). In this study, we examined 41 FBS samples collected between 2017 and 2021 for BVDV contamination. Thirty-four of 41 samples (82.9%) were positive to pestivirus-specific RT-PCR, and 17 (41.5%) and 1 (2.4%) of 41 samples were seropositive using the neutralization test for BVDV1 and 2, respectively. Ten of the 41 samples that were RT-PCR-positive with a high ELISA titer were subjected to virus isolation; however, no infectious virus was detected. Our results showed that only 5 of the 41 FBS samples (12.2%) were both PCR-negative and BVDV-specific antibody-free. It is important to note that FBS potentially poses some risks associated with BVDV.