The Most Likely Time and Place of Introduction of BTV8 into Belgian Ruminants
Open Access
- 24 February 2010
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Public Library of Science (PLoS) in PLOS ONE
- Vol. 5 (2), e9405
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0009405
Abstract
In northern Europe, bluetongue (BT) caused by the BT virus (BTV), serotype 8, was first notified in August 2006 and numerous ruminant herds were affected in 2007 and 2008. However, the origin and the time and place of the original introduction have not yet been determined. Four retrospective epidemiological surveys have been performed to enable determination of the initial spatiotemporal occurrence of this emerging disease in southern Belgium: investigations of the first recorded outbreaks near to the disease epicenter; a large anonymous, random postal survey of cattle herds and sheep flocks; a random historical milk tank survey of samples tested with an indirect ELISA and a follow-up survey of non-specific health indicators. The original introduction of BTV into the region probably occurred during spring 2006 near to the National Park of Hautes Fagnes and Eifel when Culicoides become active. The determination of the most likely time and place of introduction of BTV8 into a country is of paramount importance to enhance awareness and understanding and, to improve modeling of vector-borne emerging infectious diseases.This publication has 21 references indexed in Scilit:
- Financial consequences of the Dutch bluetongue serotype 8 epidemics of 2006 and 2007Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 2010
- Evaluation of antibody-ELISA and real-time RT-PCR for the diagnosis and profiling of bluetongue virus serotype 8 during the epidemic in Belgium in 2006Veterinary Microbiology, 2008
- Performance of clinical signs to detect bluetongue virus serotype 8 outbreaks in cattle and sheep during the 2006-epidemic in The NetherlandsVeterinary Microbiology, 2008
- Bluetongue virus antibodies in wild red deer in southern BelgiumVeterinary Record, 2008
- Bluetongue Epidemiology in the European UnionEmerging Infectious Diseases, 2008
- Regulatory issues surrounding the temporary authorisation of animal vaccination in emergency situations: the example of bluetongue in Europe.Revue Scientifique et Technique de l'OIE, 2007
- Bluetongue in Belgium, 2006Emerging Infectious Diseases, 2007
- Bluetongue virus detection by two real-time RT-qPCRs targeting two different genomic segmentsJournal of Virological Methods, 2007
- Bluetongue in northern EuropeVeterinary Record, 2006
- Population-Level Retrospective Study of Neurologically Expressed Disorders in Ruminants before the Onset of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in Belgium, a BSE Risk III CountryJournal of Clinical Microbiology, 2005