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Virus known from sheep and goats detected in an Italian roe deer

Research: Disease, parasites & microbiology, Genetics & genomics, Ecology

Researchers have reported the first molecular detection of small ruminant lentivirus (SRLV) in a roe deer. SRLVs infect sheep and goats and can persist for life; infected animals may show no obvious symptoms or develop disease affecting the lungs, joints, or other tissues. The finding came from a survey of roe deer carcasses in Italy’s Umbria and Marche regions.

One positive deer

The researchers tested samples from 179 Capreolus capreolus carcasses collected between February 2023 and December 2025. One spleen sample, from an adult female found in Marche in 2025, tested positive. The deer had traumatic injuries and probably died following a road accident; the detection does not show that the virus caused its death.

Sequencing placed the virus in genotype A, sub-genotype A23. It grouped genetically with SRLV sequences from domestic small ruminants in southern Italy, including a sequence from a sheep sampled in Sicily in 2012. SRLVs are known to circulate among sheep and goats in the study region, where pasture-based farming can bring livestock and wildlife into contact.

The genetic grouping is compatible with possible spillover between livestock and wildlife, but does not establish a direct transmission link or its direction; the authors note that it may also reflect the limited number of comparable viral sequences. One positive deer cannot show how common the virus is in the wider roe deer population, or whether wild deer help maintain or spread it. Further monitoring could show whether similar infections recur.

Sources and image credit

  1. First molecular detection of small ruminant lentivirus in a roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) in ItalyPrimary full-text report. Describes surveillance of roe deer carcasses in Umbria and Marche, the single positive sample, its genetic classification and comparison with sequences from domestic small ruminants. The authors note that the finding does not establish transmission or its direction.

Image: Ryan Hodnett / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Representative photograph. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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Disease, parasites & microbiology

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