Wild and domestic ruminants are susceptible to Bluetongue virus (BTV) infection. Three BTV serotypes (BTV-4, BTV-1 and BTV-8) have been detected in Spain in the last decade. Even though control strategies have been applied to livestock, BTV circulation has been frequently detected in wild ruminant populations in Spain. The aim of the present study is to assess the role for wild ruminants in mai...

Bluetongue (BT) is a disease of ruminants caused by bluetongue virus (BTV), which is spread between its hosts by Culicoides midges. Vaccination is the most effective way to protect susceptible animals against BTV and was used reactively to control the recent northern European outbreak. To assess the consequences of using vaccination pre-emptively we used a stochastic, spatially explicit model t...

OELLERMANN, R. A., HOOGENHOUT, JOAN and CARTER, P. Phagocytic activity of peritoneal exudate cells from mice. Onderstepoort]. vet. Res. 39(4), 197-204 (1972). . Phago~ytic activity of peritoneal exudate cells in mice was stimulated by injection of 0,1 ml mineral 01l or varymg concentrations of lysolecithin. Optimal lysolecithin concentration was found to be 2 to 5 11-g pe~ mous~. The phagocytic...

Even though bluetongue virus (BTV) transmission is apparently interrupted during winter, bluetongue outbreaks often reappear in the next season (overwintering). Several mechanisms for BTV overwintering have been proposed, but to date, their relative importance remain unclear. In order to assess the probability of BTV overwintering by persistence in adult vectors, ruminants (through prolonged vi...

Biting midges of the Culicoides obsoletus Meigen and Culicoides pulicaris L. species complexes (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) are increasingly implicated as vectors of bluetongue virus in Palearctic regions. However, predicting epidemiological risk and the spread of disease is hampered because whilst vector competence of Culicoides is expressed only in adult females, morphological identification of...

The double-stranded RNA gene coding for the surface antigen responsible for inducing neutralising antibodies has been isolated, converted to DNA, and cloned in the plasmid pBR322. So far, only plasmids containing inserts smaller than the gene have been obtained. Possible strategies for the development of a bluetongue virus subunit vaccine are discussed.

Bluetongue (BT) is an infectious, noncontagious, arthropod-borne viral disease, principally of sheep but many domestic and wild animals are also affected by this disease (Akita et al., 1994). The severity of BT in sheep varies depending on the virus, the breed of sheep and environmental stress. Infection in cattle and goats is usually sub-clinical. Etiological agent of the disease belongs to th...

After the introduction of bluetongue virus serotype 8 (BTV-8) in western Europe in 2006, an indirect ELISA for detection of serogroup-specific antibodies against BTV in serum samples was validated for individual milk samples by the Central Veterinary Institute and the Animal Health Service in the Netherlands (Kramps et al., 2008). In order to develop a cost-effective monitoring tool, we now hav...

Southern Indian isolate IND1994/01 of bluetongue virus serotype 2 (BTV-2), from the Orbivirus Reference Collection at the Pirbright Institute (http://www.reoviridae.org/dsRNA_virus_proteins/ReoID/btv-2.htm#IND1994/01), was sequenced. Its genome segment 6 (Seg-6) [encoding VP5(OCP2)] is identical to that of the Indian BTV-1 isolate (IND2003/05), while Seg-5 and Seg-9 are closely related to isola...

Spatio-temporal patterns of the spread of infectious diseases are commonly driven by environmental and ecological factors. This is particularly true for vector-borne diseases because vector populations can be strongly affected by host distribution as well as by climatic and landscape variables. Here, we aim to identify environmental drivers for bluetongue virus (BTV), the causative agent of a m...