An approach to diagnosis of Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus infection in sheep based on assessment of agreement between macroscopic examination, histopathologic examination and reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction

•Evidence-based guidelines for JSRV diagnosis using OPA lesions have been provided.•Macroscopic + histologic exam combined in parallel: Used to select lungs for RT-PCR.•If macroscopic and histologic exam are both negative, JSRV RT-PCR is not required.•If macroscopic and/or histologic exam are positive, JSRV RT-PCR is recommended.•Approach may be applied to efficiently detect JSRV infection in a flock.