In 2011, an unidentified disease in cattle was reported in Germany and the Netherlands. Clinical signs included fever, decreased milk production, and diarrhea. Metagenomic analysis identified a novel orthobunyavirus, which subsequently was isolated from blood of affected animals. Surveillance was initiated to test malformed newborn animals in the affected region.

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The introduction of genotype II African swine fever (ASF) virus, presumably from Africa into Georgia in 2007, and its continuous spread through Europe and Asia as a panzootic disease of suids, continues to have a huge socio-economic impact. ASF is characterized by hemorrhagic fever leading to a high case/fatality ratio in pigs. In Europe, wild boar are especially affected. This review summarizes the currently available knowledge on ASF in wild boar in Europe. The current ASF panzootic is characterized by self-sustaining cycles of infection in the wild boar population. Spill-over and spill-back events occur from wild boar to domestic pigs and vice versa. The social structure of wild boar populations and the spatial behavior of the animals, a variety of ASF virus (ASFV) transmission mechanisms and persistence in the environment complicate the modeling of the disease. Control measures focus on the detection and removal of wild boar carcasses, in which ASFV can remain infectious for months. Further measures include the reduction in wild boar density and the limitation of wild boar movements through fences. Using these measures, the Czech Republic and Belgium succeeded in eliminating ASF in their territories, while the disease spread in others. So far, no vaccine is available to protect wild boar or domestic pigs reliably against ASF.

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Europe is currently experiencing a long-lasting African swine fever (ASF) epidemic, both in domestic pigs and wild boar. There is great concern that carcasses of infected wild boar may act as long-term virus reservoirs in the environment. We evaluated the tenacity of ASF virus (ASFV) in tissues and body fluids from experimentally infected domestic pigs and wild boar, which were stored on different matrices and at different temperatures. Samples were analysed at regular intervals for viral genome and infectious virus. ASFV was most stable in spleen or muscles stored at −20 °C and in blood stored at 4 °C. In bones stored at −20 °C, infectious virus was detected for up to three months, and at 4 °C for up to one month, while at room temperature (RT), no infectious virus could be recovered after one week. Skin stored at −20 °C, 4 °C and RT remained infectious for up to three, six and three months, respectively. In urine and faeces, no infectious virus was recovered after one week, irrespective of the matrix. In conclusion, tissues and organs from decomposing carcasses that persist in the environment for a long time can be a source of infection for several months, especially at low temperatures.

In the autumn of 2011, Schmallenberg virus (SBV), a novel orthobunyavirus of the Simbu serogroup, was identified by metagenomic analysis in Germany. SBV has since been detected in ruminants all over Europe, and investigations on phylogenetic relationships, clinical signs and epidemiology have been conducted. However, until now, only comparative sequence analysis of SBV genome segments with other species of the Simbu serogroup have been performed, and detailed data on the S and M segments, relevant for virus-host-cell interaction, have been missing. In this study, we investigated the S-and M-segment sequences obtained from 24 SBVpositive field samples from sheep, cattle and a goat collected from all over Germany. The results obtained indicated that the overall genome variability of SBV is neither regionally nor host species dependent. Nevertheless, we characterized for the first time a region of high sequence variability (a mutation 'hot spot') within the glycoprotein Gc encoded by the M segment.In the autumn of 2011, a new disease was recognized in dairy cattle on a farm near the city of Schmallenberg (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany). The animals suffered from diarrhoea, fever and a decrease in milk production. Metagenomic analyses conducted at the Friedrich-LoefflerInstitut, Germany, revealed a novel arthropod-borne orthobunyavirus (family Bunyaviridae) of the Simbu serogroup closely related to viruses of the species Sathuperi virus Yanase et al., 2012). The virus was named Schmallenberg virus (SBV) and was later also identified in foetuses of newborn sheep, cattle and goats that displayed congenital malformations and stillbirths (Bilk et al., 2012; reviewed by Beer et al., 2013;Conraths et al., 2013). Continuous investigations of field samples revealed that SBV has spread in Germany along a geographical west-east gradient, as well as in Europe (http://www.fli.bund.de/en/startseite/current-news/ animal-disease-situation/new-orthobunyavirus-detected-incattle-in-germany.html). Exposure to SBV in livestock and wildlife ruminants has been determined to be high . Since the first detection of SBV in 2011, many studies on the seroprevalence (Elbers et al., 2012;Garigliany et al., 2012b;Loeffen et al., 2012), clinical picture and pathology (Herder et al., 2012;Hoffmann et al., 2012;van den Brom et al., 2012), epidemiology Garigliany et al., 2012a) and vectors (de Regge et al., 2012; Rasmussen et al., 2012), and even studies on the nonzoonotic potential of SBV, have been published (Ducomble et al., 2012;Reusken et al., 2012). In addition, a few phylogenetic and comparative full-genome sequence analyses have been conducted using only the original SBV sample (BH80/11-4; Hoffmann et al., 2012) and other members of the Simbu serogroup Yanase et al., 2012). However, to our knowledge, the variability of SBV genomes collected in a regionally restricted area from different host species has not been investigated. Thus, our study concerning SBV genome variability in Germany represents a novel approach.Like all orthobunyavirus...

African swine fever (ASF) is one of the most important viral diseases in domestic pigs and wild boar. Over the last decade, the disease has spread to several European and Asian countries and is now one of the major threats to profitable pig production worldwide. One of the more recently affected western countries is Belgium. To date, only wild boar (n = 829 confirmed positive

African swine fever (ASF) is an infectious disease of domestic pigs and wild boar that causes a haemorrhagic fever-like illness with exceptionally high lethality (Penrith & Vosloo, 2009). The causative agent is a large enveloped DNA virus of the Asfarviridae family, genus Asfivirus. Its large genome, with a size between 170 and 190 kbp-depending on the strain, encodes more than