title: Bluetongue virus serotypes 1 and 4 in Sardinia during autumn 2012: new incursions or re-infection with old strains?
abstract: Since 2000 several bluetongue virus (BTV) incursions have occurred in Sardinia (Italy) involving serotypes 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16. In October 2012, new BT outbreaks caused by BTV-1 and BTV-4 were reported. Nearly 500 flocks were infected and 9238 sheep died because of the infection. When sequenced, Seg-10 of both strains shared 99% similarity at nucleotide level with BTV strains that have circulated in the Mediterranean basin in the last few years. Similarly, Seg-5 sequences of BTV-1 and BTV-4 newly isolated Sardinian strains are identical and cluster together with recent BTV-1 circulating in the Mediterranean Basin and the BTV-4 strains isolated in Tunisia in 2007 and 2009. These BTV-4 strains differ from the ones that circulated in Europe from 2003 to 2005 and appear to be reassortant strains.
authors.affiliation: OIE Reference Laboratory for Bluetongue, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e Molise "G. Caporale", 64100 Teramo, Italy. Electronic address: a.lorusso@izs.it.
authors.forename: Alessio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lorusso
authors.forename: Sufien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sghaier
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carvelli
authors.forename: Annapia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Gennaro
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leone
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Marini
authors.forename: Sandro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pelini
authors.forename: Maurilia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marcacci
authors.forename: Angela Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Rocchigiani
authors.forename: Giantonella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Puggioni
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Savini
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001819:Bluetongue / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D001820:Bluetongue virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D012703:Serotyping; D012756:Sheep; D013154:Spleen / Q000821:virology; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral; D014765:Viral Vaccines
keywords: Bluetongue virus serotype 1; Bluetongue virus serotype 4; Phylogeny; Sardinia