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Viruses May 2023Epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) is an infectious viral disease caused by epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV) and EHDV frequently circulates in wild and...
Epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) is an infectious viral disease caused by epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV) and EHDV frequently circulates in wild and domestic ruminants. Sporadic outbreaks of EHD have caused thousands of deaths and stillbirths on cattle farms. However, not much is known about the circulating status of EHDV in Guangdong, southern China. To estimate the seroprevalence of EHDV in Guangdong province, 2886 cattle serum samples were collected from 2013 to 2017 and tested for antibodies against EHDV using a competitive ELISA. The overall seroprevalence of EHDV reached 57.87% and was highest in autumn (75.34%). A subset of positive samples were serotyped by a serum neutralization test, showing that EHDV serotypes 1 and 5-8 were circulating in Guangdong. In addition, EHDV prevalence always peaked in autumn, while eastern Guangdong had the highest EHDV seropositivity over the five-year period, displaying apparent temporal-spatial distribution of EHDV prevalence. A binary logistic model analysis indicated a significant association between cattle with BTV infections and seroprevalence of EHDV (OR = 1.70, < 0.001). The co-infection of different serotypes of EHDV and BTV raises a high risk of potential genomic reassortment and is likely to pose a significant threat to cattle, thus urging more surveillance to monitor their circulating dynamics in China.
Topics: Animals; Cattle; Reoviridae Infections; Hemorrhagic Disease Virus, Epizootic; Seroepidemiologic Studies; Farms; Cattle Diseases; Antibodies, Viral; Bluetongue virus
PubMed: 37376563
DOI: 10.3390/v15061263 -
Viruses May 2023The circulation of Bluetongue (BT) and Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) in the Middle East has already been reported following serological analyses carried out since...
The circulation of Bluetongue (BT) and Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) in the Middle East has already been reported following serological analyses carried out since the 1980s, mostly on wild ruminants. Thus, an EHD virus (EHDV) strain was isolated in Bahrain in 1983 (serotype 6), and more recently, BT virus (BTV) serotypes 1, 4, 8 and 16 have been isolated in Oman. To our knowledge, no genomic sequence of these different BTV strains have been published. These same BTV or EHDV serotypes have circulated and, for some of them, are still circulating in the Mediterranean basin and/or in Europe. In this study, we used samples from domestic ruminant herds collected in Oman in 2020 and 2021 for suspected foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) to investigate the presence of BTV and EHDV in these herds. Sera and whole blood from goats, sheep and cattle were tested for the presence of viral genomes (by PCR) and antibodies (by ELISA). We were able to confirm the presence of 5 BTV serotypes (1, 4, 8, 10 and 16) and the circulation of EHDV in this territory in 2020 and 2021. The isolation of a BTV-8 strain allowed us to sequence its entire genome and to compare it with another BTV-8 strain isolated in Mayotte and with homologous BTV sequences available on GenBank.
Topics: Sheep; Cattle; Animals; Reoviridae Infections; Serogroup; Bluetongue virus; Hemorrhagic Disease Virus, Epizootic; Oman; Cattle Diseases; Ruminants; Goats
PubMed: 37376559
DOI: 10.3390/v15061259 -
Biomolecules May 2023At least 12 serotypes of 'atypical' bluetongue virus (BTV-25 to BTV-36) have been identified to date. These atypical serotypes fail to infect/replicate in -derived cell...
At least 12 serotypes of 'atypical' bluetongue virus (BTV-25 to BTV-36) have been identified to date. These atypical serotypes fail to infect/replicate in -derived cell lines and/or adult vectors and hence can no longer be transmitted by these vectors. They appear to be horizontally transmitted from infected to in-contact ruminants, although the route(s) of infection remain to be identified. Viral genome segments 1, 2 and 3 (Seg-1, Seg2 and Seg-3) of BTV-26 were identified as involved in blocking virus replication in KC cells. We have developed -specific expression plasmids, which we used in transfected insect cells to assess the stability of viral mRNAs and protein expression from full-length open reading frames of Seg-1, -2 and -3 of BTV-1 (a -vectored BTV) or BTV-26. Our results indicate that the blocked replication of BTV-26 in KC cells is not due to an RNAi response, which would lead to rapid degradation of viral mRNAs. A combination of degradation/poor expression and/or modification of the proteins encoded by these segments appears to drive the failure of BTV-26 core/whole virus-particles to assemble and replicate effectively in cells.
Topics: Animals; Bluetongue virus; Ceratopogonidae; Serogroup; Genome, Viral; Cell Line; Virus Replication
PubMed: 37371457
DOI: 10.3390/biom13060878 -
Microorganisms May 2023Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) of ruminants is a viral pathology that has significant welfare, social, and economic implications. The causative agent, epizootic... (Review)
Review
Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) of ruminants is a viral pathology that has significant welfare, social, and economic implications. The causative agent, epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV), belongs to the genus and leads to significant regional disease outbreaks among livestock and wildlife in North America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, causing significant morbidity and mortality. During the past decade, this viral disease has become a real threat for countries of the Mediterranean basin, with the recent occurrence of several important outbreaks in livestock. Moreover, the European Union registered the first cases of EHDV ever detected within its territory. Competent vectors involved in viral transmission, midges, are expanding its distribution, conceivably due to global climate change. Therefore, livestock and wild ruminants around the globe are at risk for this serious disease. This review provides an overview of current knowledge about EHDV, including changes of distribution and virulence, an examination of different animal models of disease, and a discussion about potential treatments to control the disease.
PubMed: 37317313
DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11051339 -
Parasites & Vectors Jun 2023Culicoides Latreille (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) is a genus of hematophagous midges feeding on various vertebrate hosts and serving as a vector for numerous pathogens...
BACKGROUND
Culicoides Latreille (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) is a genus of hematophagous midges feeding on various vertebrate hosts and serving as a vector for numerous pathogens important to livestock and wildlife health. North American pathogens include bluetongue (BT) and epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) viruses. Little is known about Culicoides spp. distribution and abundance and species composition in Ontario, Canada, despite bordering numerous U.S. states with documented Culicoides spp. and BT and EHD virus activity. We sought to characterize Culicoides spp. distribution and abundance and to investigate whether select meteorological and ecological risk factors influenced the abundance of Culicoides biguttatus, C. stellifer, and the subgenus Avaritia trapped throughout southern Ontario.
METHODS
From June to October of 2017 to 2018, CDC-type LED light suction traps were placed on twelve livestock-associated sites across southern Ontario. Culicoides spp. collected were morphologically identified to the species level when possible. Associations were examined using negative binomial regression among C. biguttatus, C. stellifer, and subgenus Avaritia abundance, and select factors: ambient temperature, rainfall, primary livestock species, latitude, and habitat type.
RESULTS
In total, 33,905 Culicoides spp. midges were collected, encompassing 14 species from seven subgenera and one species group. Culicoides sonorensis was collected from three sites during both years. Within Ontario, the northern trapping locations had a pattern of seasonal peak abundance in August (2017) and July (2018), and the southern locations had abundance peaks in June for both years. Culicoides biguttatus, C. stellifer, and subgenus Avaritia were significantly more abundant if ovine was the primary livestock species at trapping sites (compared to bovine). Culicoides stellifer and subgenus Avaritia were significantly more abundant at mid- to high-temperature ranges on trap days (i.e., 17.3-20.2 and 20.3-31.0 °C compared to 9.5-17.2 °C). Additionally, subgenus Avaritia were significantly more abundant if rainfall 4 weeks prior was between 2.7 and 20.1 mm compared to 0.0 mm and if rainfall 8 weeks prior was between 0.1 and 2.1 mm compared to 0.0 mm.
CONCLUSIONS
Results from our study describe Culicoides spp. distribution in southern Ontario, the potential for spread and maintenance of EHD and BT viruses, and concurrent health risks to livestock and wildlife in southern Ontario in reference to certain meteorological and ecological risk factors. We identified that Culicoides spp. are diverse in this province, and appear to be distinctly distributed spatially and temporally. The livestock species present, temperature, and rainfall appear to have an impact on the abundance of C. biguttatus, C. stellifer, and subgenus Avaritia trapped. These findings could help inform targeted surveillance, control measures, and the development of management guides for Culicoides spp. and EHD and BT viruses in southern Ontario, Canada.
Topics: Animals; Cattle; Sheep; Ceratopogonidae; Ontario; Animals, Wild; Bluetongue; Bluetongue virus; Hemorrhagic Disease Virus, Epizootic; Livestock; Sheep, Domestic
PubMed: 37316934
DOI: 10.1186/s13071-023-05799-w -
Archives of Virology Jun 2023Bluetongue virus (BTV) causes bluetongue disease in ruminants and sheep. The current live attenuated and inactivated vaccines available for prevention pose several...
Bluetongue virus (BTV) causes bluetongue disease in ruminants and sheep. The current live attenuated and inactivated vaccines available for prevention pose several risks, and there is thus a need for vaccines that are safer, economically viable, and effective against multiple circulating serotypes. This work describes the development of recombinant virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine candidates in plants, which are assembled by co-expression of the four BTV serotype 8 major structural proteins. We show that substitution of a neutralising tip domain of BTV8 VP2 with that of BTV1 VP2 resulted in the assembly of VLPs that stimulated serotype-specific antibodies as well as virus-specific neutralising antibodies.
Topics: Animals; Sheep; Bluetongue virus; Antibodies; Bluetongue; Serogroup; Vaccines, Virus-Like Particle
PubMed: 37310539
DOI: 10.1007/s00705-023-05790-x -
Viruses Mar 2023Bluetongue virus (BTV) is an arbovirus that is transmitted between domestic and wild ruminants by spp. Its worldwide distribution depends on competent vectors and...
Bluetongue virus (BTV) is an arbovirus that is transmitted between domestic and wild ruminants by spp. Its worldwide distribution depends on competent vectors and suitable environmental ecosystems that are becoming affected by climate change. Therefore, we evaluated whether climate change would influence the potential distribution and ecological niche of BTV and in Peru. Here, we analyzed BTV ( = 145) and ( = 22) occurrence records under two shared socioeconomic pathway scenarios (SSP126 and SSP585) with five primary general circulation models (GCMs) using the kuenm R package v.1.1.9. Then, we obtained binary presence-absence maps and represented the risk of transmission of BTV and niche overlapping. The niche model approach showed that north and east Peru presented suitability in the current climate scenario and they would have a decreased risk of BTV, whilst its vector would be stable and expand with high agreement for the five GCMs. In addition, its niche overlap showed that the two niches almost overlap at present and would completely overlap with one another in future climate scenarios. These findings might be used to determine the areas of highest priority for entomological and virological investigations and surveillance in order to control and prevent bluetongue infections in Peru.
Topics: Animals; Ecosystem; Bluetongue virus; Climate Change; Peru; Insect Vectors; Ruminants; Ceratopogonidae
PubMed: 37112872
DOI: 10.3390/v15040892 -
Emerging Infectious Diseases May 2023We describe the detection of epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV) serotype 8 in cattle farms in Sardinia and Sicily in October-November 2022. The virus has a...
We describe the detection of epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV) serotype 8 in cattle farms in Sardinia and Sicily in October-November 2022. The virus has a direct origin in North Africa; its genome is identical (>99.9% nucleotide sequence identity) to EHDV serotype 8 strains detected in Tunisia in 2021.
Topics: Animals; Cattle; Reoviridae Infections; Serogroup; Hemorrhagic Disease Virus, Epizootic; Base Sequence; Italy; Cattle Diseases
PubMed: 37081599
DOI: 10.3201/eid2905.221773 -
Nucleic Acids Research Jun 2023How multi-segmented double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) viruses correctly incorporate their genomes into their capsids remains unclear for many viruses, including Bluetongue...
How multi-segmented double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) viruses correctly incorporate their genomes into their capsids remains unclear for many viruses, including Bluetongue virus (BTV), a Reoviridae member, with a genome of 10 segments. To address this, we used an RNA-cross-linking and peptide-fingerprinting assay (RCAP) to identify RNA binding sites of the inner capsid protein VP3, the viral polymerase VP1 and the capping enzyme VP4. Using a combination of mutagenesis, reverse genetics, recombinant proteins and in vitro assembly, we validated the importance of these regions in virus infectivity. Further, to identify which RNA segments and sequences interact with these proteins, we used viral photo-activatable ribonucleoside crosslinking (vPAR-CL) which revealed that the larger RNA segments (S1-S4) and the smallest segment (S10) have more interactions with viral proteins than the other smaller segments. Additionally, using a sequence enrichment analysis we identified an RNA motif of nine bases that is shared by the larger segments. The importance of this motif for virus replication was confirmed by mutagenesis followed by virus recovery. We further demonstrated that these approaches could be applied to a related Reoviridae member, rotavirus (RV), which has human epidemic impact, offering the possibility of novel intervention strategies for a human pathogen.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Bluetongue virus; Capsid; RNA, Double-Stranded; RNA, Viral; Virus Replication; Viral Proteins
PubMed: 37070191
DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkad274 -
International Journal of Molecular... Apr 2023Bioinformatic analyses have predicted that orbiviruses encode an additional, small non-structural protein (NS5) from a secondary open reading frame on genome segment 10....
Bioinformatic analyses have predicted that orbiviruses encode an additional, small non-structural protein (NS5) from a secondary open reading frame on genome segment 10. However, this protein has not previously been detected in infected mammalian or insect cells. NS5-specific antibodies were generated in mice and were used to identify NS5 synthesised in orbivirus-infected BSR cells or cells transfected with NS5 expression plasmids. Confocal microscopy shows that although NS5 accumulates in the nucleus, particularly in the nucleolus, which becomes disrupted, it also appears in the cell cytoplasm, co-localising with mitochondria. NS5 helps to prevent the degradation of ribosomal RNAs during infection and reduces host-cell protein synthesis However, it helps to extend cell viability by supporting viral protein synthesis and virus replication. Pulldown studies showed that NS5 binds to ssRNAs and supercoiled DNAs and demonstrates interactions with ZBP1, suggesting that it modulates host-cell responses.
Topics: Animals; Mice; Cell Nucleus; DNA; Orbivirus; RNA, Viral; RNA-Binding Proteins; Viral Nonstructural Proteins
PubMed: 37047816
DOI: 10.3390/ijms24076845