Veterinary Preventive Medicine-II

CLINICAL MANIFESTATIONS

• Most animals infected with BLV remain clinically normal. Those that develop disease (approximately 2%) ultimately die after a long (weeks to months) clinical course.
• Initial clinical signs are often those of weight loss and reduced milk production, but may be quite varied depending on the site of tumor development.
• The disease is a B-cell lymphoma. The organs most commonly affected are the lymph nodes, heart, abomasum, uterus, and spleen.
• When the superficial lymph nodes are involved they may be swollen and appear as lumps under the skin usually in the neck and rear flank region.