title: Bluetongue virus surveillance in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania: Is serotype 26 circulating among cattle and dromedaries?
abstract: In March 2013, EDTA-blood and serum samples were collected from 119 cattle and 159 dromedaries at the slaughterhouse of Nouakchott, the capital city of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. Serum samples were screened for the presence of Bluetongue (BT) antibodies by competitive ELISA (cELISA). Positive samples were then tested by serum-neutralization (SN) to determine BTV serotype. RNA from blood samples was first tested by a genus-specific quantitative RT-PCR assay which is able to detect all 27 existing BTV serotypes (RT-qPCR1-27). Positive samples were further screened by a RT-qPCR assay which, instead, is able to detect the classical 24 BTV serotypes only (RT-qPCR1-24). Of the 278 serum samples tested, 177 (mean=63.7%; 95% CI: 57.9%-69.1%) resulted positive by cELISA. Of these, 69 were from cattle (mean=58.0%; 95% CI: 49.0%-66.5%) and 108 from dromedaries (mean=67.9%; 95% CI: 60.3%-74.7%). BTV-26 neutralizing antibodies were by far the most frequently found as they were detected in 146 animals with titres ranging from 1:10 to 1:80. Out of 278 blood samples, 25 (mean=9.0%; 95% CI: 6.2%-12.9%) were found positive for BTV by RT-qPCR1-27, 20 (mean=16.8%; 95% CI: 11.2%-24.6%) were from cattle and 5 (mean=3.1%; 95% CI: 1.4%-7.1%) from dromedaries. When tested by RT-qPCR1-24 the 25 BTV positive samples were negative. Unfortunately, no genetic information by molecular typing or by next generation sequencing has been obtained as for the very low levels of RNA in the blood samples.
authors.affiliation: OIE Reference Laboratory for Bluetongue, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e Molise, Teramo (IZSAM)-Italy. Electronic address: a.lorusso@izs.it.
authors.forename: Alessio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lorusso
authors.affiliation: Centre National d'Elevage et de Recherches Vétérinaires (CNERV), Nouakchott, Mauritania.
authors.forename: Doumbia
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Baba
authors.affiliation: OIE Reference Laboratory for Bluetongue, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e Molise, Teramo (IZSAM)-Italy.
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Spedicato
authors.affiliation: OIE Reference Laboratory for Bluetongue, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e Molise, Teramo (IZSAM)-Italy.
authors.forename: Liana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Teodori
authors.affiliation: OIE Reference Laboratory for Bluetongue, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e Molise, Teramo (IZSAM)-Italy.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bonfini
authors.affiliation: OIE Reference Laboratory for Bluetongue, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e Molise, Teramo (IZSAM)-Italy.
authors.forename: Maurilia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marcacci
authors.affiliation: OIE Reference Laboratory for Bluetongue, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e Molise, Teramo (IZSAM)-Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Provvido
authors.affiliation: Centre National d'Elevage et de Recherches Vétérinaires (CNERV), Nouakchott, Mauritania.
authors.forename: Katia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Isselmou
authors.affiliation: OIE Reference Laboratory for Bluetongue, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e Molise, Teramo (IZSAM)-Italy.
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Marini
authors.affiliation: OIE Reference Laboratory for Bluetongue, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e Molise, Teramo (IZSAM)-Italy.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Carmine
authors.affiliation: OIE Reference Laboratory for Bluetongue, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e Molise, Teramo (IZSAM)-Italy.
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scacchia
authors.affiliation: OIE Reference Laboratory for Bluetongue, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e Molise, Teramo (IZSAM)-Italy.
authors.forename: Daria
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Di Sabatino
authors.affiliation: OIE Reference Laboratory for Bluetongue, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e Molise, Teramo (IZSAM)-Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Petrini
authors.affiliation: Centre National d'Elevage et de Recherches Vétérinaires (CNERV), Nouakchott, Mauritania.
authors.forename: Beyatt Ahmed
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Bezeid
authors.affiliation: OIE Reference Laboratory for Bluetongue, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e Molise, Teramo (IZSAM)-Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Savini
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001819:Bluetongue / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D001820:Bluetongue virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D002162:Camelus / Q000821:virology*; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D008435:Mauritania / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D065288:Serogroup; D012703:Serotyping; D012756:Sheep / Q000821:virology
keywords: Bluetongue virus serotype 26; Cattle; Dromedaries; Mauritania