title: Pestiviruses infections at the wild and domestic ruminants interface in the French Southern Alps.
abstract: In alpine pasture, interspecies transmission has recently been incriminated in the epidemiology of pestivirus infection. The aim of this study was to investigate pestivirus infections in wild and domestic ruminants sharing pastures in the French Southern Alps. Animal sera were screened for pestivirus antibodies against the pestivirus NS3 protein by a commercial blocking enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). All 38 domestic herds tested were positive for pestivirus-specific antibodies. Individual sero-prevalence reached 76.5% (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: [74.2-78.8%]) of the 1383 sheep tested. For wild ruminants, 38.7% (95% CI: [33.8-43.9%]) of the 369 chamois tested, 28.7% (95% CI: [17.4-38.1%]) of the 72 roe deer, and 22.2% (95% CI: [6.5-37.9%]) of the 27 mouflons were seropositive. Virus screening was carried out on spleen samples from hunted wild animals (n=160) and from 15 domestic ruminants (clinically suspected to be persistently infected animals), by a conventional reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Three pestivirus strains were isolated from the sheep samples positive by RT-PCR. The viruses were classified in the BDV-3, BDV-Tunisian and BDV-6 genotypes. For the first time, one strain (RUPI-05 strain) was isolated from an alpine chamois and clustered in the BDV-6 genotype, showing in the 5'-UTR region 92% of identity with the ovine isolate from the same area. Thus, an active circulation of pestiviruses was demonstrated in both wild and domestic ungulates from the French Southern Alps. The results suggest that interspecies transmission between sheep and chamois probably occur.
authors.affiliation: Anses, Laboratoire de Sophia-Antipolis, Unité pathologie des ruminants, 105 Route des Chappes - B.P. 111, 06902 Sophia-Antipolis Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Anses, Laboratoire de Sophia-Antipolis, Unité pathologie des ruminants, 105 Route des Chappes - B.P. 111, 06902 Sophia-Antipolis Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Véronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Duquesne
authors.affiliation: Anses, Laboratoire de Sophia-Antipolis, Unité pathologie des ruminants, 105 Route des Chappes - B.P. 111, 06902 Sophia-Antipolis Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Gilbert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Adam
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Départemental Vétérinaire et d'Hygiène Alimentaire des Hautes-Alpes, Rue des Silos 5, B.P. 63, F-05602 Gap Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Belleau
authors.affiliation: Cabinet Vétérinaire, Barcelonette, France.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gauthier
authors.affiliation: Coopérative de l'Agneau de Haute-Provence, Digne Les Bains, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Luc
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Champion
authors.affiliation: Research Unit in Epidemiology and Risk Analysis Applied to Veterinary Sciences, Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, Boulevard de Colonster, 20, B42, B-4000 Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Saegerman
authors.affiliation: Anses, Laboratoire de Sophia-Antipolis, Unité pathologie des ruminants, 105 Route des Chappes - B.P. 111, 06902 Sophia-Antipolis Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Thiéry
authors.affiliation: Anses, Laboratoire de Sophia-Antipolis, Unité pathologie des ruminants, 105 Route des Chappes - B.P. 111, 06902 Sophia-Antipolis Cedex, France. Electronic address: eric.dubois@anses.fr.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dubois
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic; D000835:Animals, Wild; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000662:veterinary; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D010576:Pestivirus / Q000145:classification*; D018182:Pestivirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D015995:Prevalence; D012418:Ruminants
keywords: Chamois; Epidemiology; French Alps; Interspecies transmission; Pestivirus; Wild and domestic ruminants interface