BACK GROUND: Bluetongue virus (BTV) is recognized to infect ruminants all around the world, and its prevalence mainly depends on the BTV situation, vectors distribution, weather patterns and susceptibility of the host. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to draw a correlation between the prevalence of BTV antibodies and climate changes in Iranian Azerbaijan Province. METHODS: Sera samples...

During 2006 the first outbreak of bluetongue ever recorded in northern Europe started in Belgium and the Netherlands, spreading to Luxemburg, Germany and north-east France. The virus overwintered (2006-2007) reappearing during May-June 2007 with greatly increased severity in affected areas, spreading further into Germany and France, reaching Denmark, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and the UK. ...

The complete genome sequence of a reassortant field strain of bluetongue virus serotype 16 (BTV-16), isolated from cattle in the Apulia region of Italy in 2002, has been determined by Illumina sequencing. Sequence comparisons of segment 1 (Seg-1) to Seg-10, except Seg-5, show that BTV-16 strain ITL2002 belongs to the major eastern topotype of BTV.

This paper presents evidence that a field strain of bluetongue virus serotype 8 (BTV-8) was transmitted transplacentally and that it was also spread by a direct contact route. Twenty pregnant heifers were imported from the Netherlands into Northern Ireland during the midge-free season. Tests before and after the animals were imported showed that eight of them had antibodies to bluetongue virus,...

Studies conducted on 106 mithun at the National Research Centre on Mithun and 66 free-ranging mithun in Nagaland, India, revealed an infection rate with bluetongue virus of 86%, using a commercially available competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Animals were grouped according to their age: 36 of 1 to 2 years of age, 50 of 2 to 4 years of age and 86 aged 4 years and over. The highest i...

The introduction of bluetongue virus serotype 8 into northern Europe at the end of summer 2006 initiated one of the most widespread epizootics of bluetongue infection ever to occur. In winter 2007-2008, a cross-sectional serologic study was conducted in France along a transect perpendicular to the epizootic wave. Cattle herd-level seroprevalence varied from 4% to 100%, and animal-level seroprev...

The genome of NIG1982/10, a Nigerian bluetongue virus serotype 16 (BTV-16) strain, was sequenced (19,193 bp). Comparisons to BTV strains from other areas of the world show that all 10 genome segments of NIG1982/10 are derived from a western lineage (w), indicating that it represents a suitable reference strain of BTV-16w.

Sheep and goats sampled in Kuwait during February 2010 were seropositive for bluetongue virus (BTV). BTV isolate KUW2010/02, from 1 of only 2 sheep that also tested positive for BTV by real-time reverse transcription-PCR, caused mild clinical signs in sheep. Nucleotide sequencing identified KUW2010/02 as a novel BTV serotype.

BACKGROUND Bluetongue virus (BTV) is an economically important, arthropod borne, emerging pathogen in Europe, causing disease mainly in sheep and cattle. Routine vaccination for bluetongue would require the ability to distinguish between vaccinated and infected individuals (DIVA). Current vaccines are effective but are not DIVA. Virus-like particles (VLPs) are highly immunogenic structural mimi...

Understanding the spatial dynamics of an infectious disease is critical when attempting to predict where and how fast the disease will spread. We illustrate an approach using a trend-surface analysis (TSA) model combined with a spatial error simultaneous autoregressive model (SAR(err) model) to estimate the speed of diffusion of bluetongue (BT), an infectious disease of ruminants caused by blue...