OBJECTIVE To evaluate herd-level risk factors for seropositive status of cattle to 1 or more bluetongue viruses. ANIMALS 110 herds of cattle in Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. PROCEDURE Blood samples were collected before and after the vector season. Samples were tested for antibodies against bluetongue virus by use of a commercially available competitive ELISA. Factors evaluated ...

The history and epizootiology of bluetongue (BT) in India are reviewed. BT has become endemic in India. The first outbreak of BT in sheep and goats in the country was recorded in 1964 in Maharashtra State. Since then, several outbreaks of BT have been reported in sheep. Exotic sheep are more susceptible than indigenous and cross-bred sheep. A serological survey has indicated the presence of blu...

A cross-sectional study was carried out in spring 2007, at the end of the first bluetongue outbreak season, to determine the geographical spread of bluetongue virus serotype 8 (btv-8) infection in cattle in the Netherlands and the consequences for some production parameters. Blood samples from cattle submitted to the laboratory of the Dutch Animal Health Service for other voluntary and obligato...

The recent bluetongue virus serotype 8 (BTV-8) epidemic in Western Europe struck hard. Controlling the infection was difficult and a good and safe vaccine was not available until the spring of 2008. Little was known regarding BTV transmission in Western Europe or the efficacy of control measures. Quantitative details on transmission are essential to assess the potential and efficacy of such mea...

The complete genome sequence of a reassortant field strain (IND2014/01) of Bluetongue virus (BTV) serotype 16, isolated from sheep from southern India in 2014, was sequenced. The total genome size was 19,186 bp. Sequence comparisons of all genome segments, except segment 5 (Seg-5), showed that IND2014/01 belonged to the major eastern topotype of BTV.

For many years blueto ngue has been known as a n importa nt a nd often fatal virus di sease of sheep in South Africa, (Henning, 1956) . As a result of extensions of the d isease to countries outside Africa considerable interest in this d isease has recently developed. The biological characteristics of the virus and its transmission by the biting midges have been studied extensively, but very li...

The recent and rapid spread in the Mediterranean Basin of bluetongue, a viral disease of ruminants transmitted by some species of Culicoides (biting midges), highlights the necessity of determining the conditions of its emergence. This study uses high spatial resolution satellite imagery and methods from landscape ecology science to identify environmental parameters related to bluetongue occurr...

A study of the distribution of Culicoides species was conducted by establishing 12 light trap sites over five rainy seasons between 1998 and 2003 covering all the geo-climatic natural regions of Zimbabwe. In total, 279 919 specimens of Culicoides were trapped over a total of 163 trapping nights. The highest median counts of Culicoides per trapping night were recorded in natural region III, whic...