Rift Valley fever (RVF) is an arthropod-borne viral disease of ruminants, camels and humans. It is also a significant zoonosis which may be encountered as an uncomplicated influenza-like illness, but may also present as a haemorrhagic disease with liver involvement; there may also be ocular or neurological lesions. In animals, RVF may be inapparent in non-pregnant adults, but outbreaks are char...

After an outbreak of Rift Valley fever in Southern Mauritania in 1987, entomologic studies were conducted in a bordering region in Sénégal from 1991 to 1996 to identify the sylvatic vectors of Rift Valley fever virus. The virus was isolated from the floodwater mosquitoes Aedes vexans and Ae. ochraceus. In 1974 and 1983, the virus had been isolated from Ae. dalzieli. Although these vectors diffe...

Phylogenetic relationships were examined for 198 Rift Valley fever virus isolates and 5 derived strains obtained from various sources in Saudi Arabia and 16 countries in Africa during a 67-year period (1944-2010). A maximum-likelihood tree prepared with sequence data for a 490-nt section of the Gn glycoprotein gene showed that 95 unique sequences sorted into 15 lineages. A 2010 isolate from a p...

6. World Organization of Animal Health (OIE). World animal health information database 2008, 2009 and 2010 [cited 2013 Apr 26]. http://www.oie.int/wahis_2/ public/wahid.php/Wahidhome/Home 7. Ikegami T, Makino S. The pathogenesis of Rift Valley fever. Viruses. 2011;3:493– 519. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v3050493 8. Heinrich N, Saathoff E, Weller N, Clowes P, Kroidl I, Ntinginya E, et al. High ser...

Rift Valley fever (RVF), which caused epizootics and epidemics among human and livestock populations, occurred in Senegal in 2013-2014. A multidisciplinary field investigation was carried out in 3 regions of Senegal. We found 11 confirmed human cases of Rift Valley fever, including severe cases with encephalitis and retinitis, 1 pool of mosquito (Aedes ochraceus), and 52 animals tested positive...

We describe a new octoploid species of African clawed frog (Xenopus) from the Lendu Plateau in the northern Albertine Rift of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. This species is the sister taxon of Xenopus vestitus (another octoploid), but is distinguished by a unique morphology, vocalization and molecular divergence in mitochondrial and autosomal DNA. Using a comprehensive genetic sample...

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a zoonotic vector-borne infection and causes a potentially severe disease. Many mammals are susceptible to infection including important livestock species. Although currently confined to Africa and the near-East, this disease causes concern in countries in temperate climates where both hosts and potential vectors are present, such as the Netherlands. Currently,...

In the present study, 1,421 cattle in 32 herds within nine districts, which are important cattle-producing centers in the nine provinces of Zambia, were tested for Rift Valley fever by the indirect immunofluorescence assay. One hundred and forty-seven cattle (10.5%) in 28 herds (88.9%) in the nine districts tested were positive for Rift Valley fever implying a country-wide distribution. In dist...

The neurotropic strain of Rift Valley fever virus produces encephalitis when inoculated intracerebrally in lambs. Subcutaneous inoculation into sheep and lambs does not cause illness. Immunity against the pantropic strain follows the subcutaneous injection of neurotropic virus in sheep and lambs. Two species of monkey, Macaca mulatta, the rhesus monkey, and M. irus, the crab-eating macacque, ar...