A marketing authorisation for a veterinary vaccine is granted after the quality, safety and efficacy of the product have been assessed in accordance with legal standards. The assessment includes complete characterisation and identification of seed material and ingredients, laboratory and host animal safety and efficacy studies, stability studies, and post-licensing monitoring of field performan...

The results presented here record the first confirmation of bluetongue virus (BTV) antibody in sheep and goats in Kerala State. A total of 1,010 sera collected from the 14 districts within the state were screened for the presence of group-specific BTV antibodies by dot enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (dot ELISA). Positive samples were obtained from 12 of the 14 districts. The overall BTV anti...

The role of cattle in the epidemiology of bluetongue (BT) as well as the distribution of different vector species throughout South Africa is not well understood. Mnisi, a rural area located in Mpumalanga, South Africa, was selected for an epidemiological study. The prevalence of Culicoides species associated with this area as well as whether bluetongue virus (BTV) is circulating in the area is ...

When Bluetongue Virus Serotype 8 (BTV-8) was first detected in Northern Europe in 2006, several guidelines were immediately put into place with the goal to protect farms and stop the spreading of the disease. This however did not prevent further rapid spread of BTV-8 across Northern Europe. Using information on the 2006 Bluetongue outbreak in cattle farms in Belgium, a spatio-temporal transmiss...

African horsesickness (AHS) is a devastating disease of horses. The disease is caused by the double-stranded RNA-containing African horsesickness virus (AHSV). Using electron cryomicroscopy and three-dimensional image reconstruction, we determined the architecture of an AHSV serotype 4 (AHSV-4) reference strain. The structure revealed triple-layered AHS virions enclosing the segmented genome an...

BACKGROUND Previous studies investigating long-distance, wind-borne dispersal of Culicoides have utilised outbreaks of clinical disease (passive surveillance) to assess the relationship between incursion and dispersal event. In this study, species of exotic Culicoides and isolates of novel bluetongue viruses, collected as part of an active arbovirus surveillance program, were used for the first...

Bluetongue virus (BTV) replicates in lymphoid tissues where infected mononuclear leukocytes secrete proinflammatory and vasoactive mediators that can contribute to bluetongue (BT) pathogenesis. Using the well-characterized IFNAR(-/-) mice animal model, we have now studied the histopathology and dynamics of leukocyte populations in different target tissues (spleen, thymus, and lung) during BTV-4...

The recent arrival in Northern and Western (NW) Europe of bluetongue virus (BTV), which causes the ruminant disease 'bluetongue', has raised the profile of this vector-borne ruminant disease and sparked discussions on the reasons for its sudden emergence so far north. This expansion has not happened in isolation and the disease has been expanding into Southern and Eastern Europe for the last de...

BACKGROUND In August 2006 a major epidemic of bluetongue virus serotype 8 (BTV8) started off in North-West Europe. In the course of 2007 it became evident that BTV8 had survived the winter in North-West Europe, re-emerged and spread exponentially. Recently, the European Union decided to start vaccination against BTV8. In order to improve the understanding of the epidemiological situation, it wa...

Bluetongue (BT) virus serotype 2 (BTV 2) was first confirmed in Tunisia in February 2000 and has since spread northward and westward, infecting several other countries and islands, including Corsica, where clinical disease was reported in October 2000. BT was again reported on the Island in July 2001, some six months after a vaccination campaign against BTV 2. The molecular relationship between...