Aim: Small ruminant lentivirus infections has chronic and incurable character that might simultaneously and immunopathogenically affect several major target organs, causing pathological and clinical mastitis, maedi, visna, and arthritis in sheep and goats. This study aimed to reveal the lesions and their cellular distribution in different tissues of histopathologically and immunohistochemically infected goats.

Materials and Methods: A total of six goats, known as seropositive, and one aborted fetus, were used for the study. Histopathologic findings and immunohistochemical cellular distributions were determined.

Results: Histopathologically, bronchopneumonia and chronic interstitial pneumonia, enteritis, hyaline droplets and hyaline cylinders, hydropic degeneration and necrosis of proximal and distal tubular epithelium in the kidneys, congestion and decrease of lymphoid cells in the spleen, congestion, hyaline degeneration and necrosis in the heart, and hydropic degeneration, necrosis and hepatitis in the liver were observed. Immunohistochemically, positive staining was observed in the epithelium of the bronchi and bronchioles, alveolar macrophages and lymphocytes in the lung, lymphocytes and macrophages in the spleen, crypt, and villous epitelium, lymphocytes and macrophages in the intestine, and Kupffer cells and lymphocytes in the liver. In contrast, no positivity was observed in the kidneys and heart.

Conclusion: It is anticipated that the data obtained on small ruminant lentivirus infections will have an important place in goat breeding and will be important for new studies and control programs that may be developed.