Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus (JSRV) is a betaretrovirus which is the causative agent of a contagious lung cancer in sheep, called ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma. JSRV is the virus that is the cause of the contagious lung tumors in sheep called ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA). The disease has also been called "jaagsiekte", after the Afrikaans words for "chase" ("jaag") and "sickness" ("siekte"), to describe the respiratory distress observed in an animal out of breath from being chased, indicating the breathing difficulty experienced by infected sheep. Transmission of virus is through aerosol spread between sheep. The exogenous infectious form of
Alternatives to animal testing performed on intact animals, the maintenance of cells in culture normally requires the use of animal-derived serum. Although exact figures are difficult to obtain, some have estimated that one million fetal cows are sacrificed each year to obtain the world's supply of fetal bovine serum, used to grow cultured cells. Skin irritation and skin corrosion refer to localized toxic effects resulting from a topical exposure of the skin to a substance. Human skin equivalent tests can be used to replace animal-based corrosive and irritative studies. EpiDerm from Mattek and EpiSkin and SkinEthic RHE model are derived from human skin cells