Bluetongue Virus: From BTV-1 to BTV-27

Publication date: Available online 22 September 2017 Source:Advances in Virus Research Author(s): Guillaume Belbis, Stéphan Zientara, Emmanuel Bréard, Corinne Sailleau, Grégory Caignard, Damien Vitour, Houssam Attoui Bluetongue virus (BTV) is the type species of genus Orbivirus within family Reoviridae. Bluetongue virus is transmitted between its ruminant hosts by the bite of Culicoides spp. midges. Severe BT cases are characterized by symptoms including hemorrhagic fever, particularly in sheep, loss of productivity, and death. To date, 27 BTV serotypes have been documented. These include novel isolates of atypical BTV, which have been almost fully characterized using deep sequencing technologies and do not rely on Culicoides vectors for their transmission among hosts. Due to its high economic impact, BT is an Office International des Epizooties (OIE) listed disease that is strictly controlled in international commercial exchanges. During the 20th century, BTV has been endemic in subtropical regions. In the last 15 years, novel strains of nine “typical” BTV serotypes (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 14, and 16) invaded Europe, some of which caused disease in naive sheep and unexpectedly in bovine herds (particularly serotype 8). Over the past few years, three novel “atypical” serotypes (25–27) were characterized during sequencing studies of animal samples from Switzerland, Kuwait, and France, respectively. Classical serotype-specific inactivated vaccines, although...
Source: Advances in Virus Research - Category: Virology Source Type: research