Susceptibility of Culicoides variipennis sonorensis to infection by polymerase chain reaction-detectable bluetongue virus in cattle blood.
Cattle bloods containing only polymerase chain reaction (PCR)--detectable bluetongue-10 viral nucleic acid, but as determined by virus isolation techniques, not bluetongue-10 virus, were incapable of infecting intrathoracically inoculated Culicoides variipennis sonorensis. These insects also failed to transmit bluetongue-10 virus when fed on sheep. Cattle whose blood contain only PCR-detectable bluetongue viral nucleic acid, but no infectious virus, are unlikely to play a role in the epidemiology of bluetongue. The biological significance of PCR-based detection assays and their effect on animal health regulations on the international trade of livestock and livestock germplasm is discussed. Bluetongue virus infection provides a very useful model with which to study arthropod-transmitted RNA virus infections of humans and other animals.
Tabachnick
W J
WJ
Arthropod-Borne Animal Diseases Research Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Laramie, Wyoming, USA.
MacLachlan
N J
NJ
Thompson
L H
LH
Hunt
G J
GJ
Patton
J F
JF
D000818:Animals; D001819:Bluetongue / Q000097:blood / Q000635:transmission / Q000821:virology*; D001820:Bluetongue virus; D002417:Cattle; D002519:Ceratopogonidae / Q000821:virology*; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D004435:Eating; D005260:Female; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000821:virology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012756:Sheep; D015996:Survival Rate