Bluetongue virus and embryo transfer in cattle.
Embryos recovered nonsurgically from donor cattle infected with bluetongue virus (BTV) were transferred to seronegative, uninfected recipients. High titers of BTV were found in donor blood at the time of embryo recovery and BTV could be isolated from the recovery medium obtained from many of the donors. Bluetongue virus was not isolated from the blood of any of the 39 recipients that received embryos from infected donors, and none of these recipients seroconverted within 60 days of transfer. There was no evidence that BTV was transmitted to the early embryo in viremic donors. These results indicate that, under standard conditions of embryo transfer, transmission of BTV from infected donors to recipients is unlikely to occur.