Serological evidence of the occurrence of bluetongue in Iraq

Abstract

Precipitating antibodies against bluetongue were detected in sheep and goat serum samples collected from animals slaughtered in Baghdad abattoir. Out of 294 sheep serum samples and 110 goat serum samples examined, 28 and 18 samples respectively showed precipitating activity. In addition, examination of sheep serum samples collected from localities where clinical cases similar to bluetongue were previously reported revealed the presence of bluetongue precipitating antibodies in 101 sera out of 198 samples examined. This is the first report confirming the occurrence of bluetongue in Iraq.

A serologicalsurveillance of bluetongue disease in sheep and goats in Iraq by using acompetitive ELISA Technique

“…The results also indicated that there is a smallvariation in the percentage of the presence of bluetongue specific antibodies between goats and sheep samples, with 43.97% of positive sheep samples against 39.47 % of positive goats samples. These results did not agree with the results of the previous study that showed among 294 of sheep samples only 28 serum sample were positive that represent 9.52%, while among 110 of goats serum samples 18 samples were positive representing 16.36% (7). This variationmay be a result to the low number of collected goat samples in comparison with sheep samples because the criteria of the study was concerned on the random sampling from small ruminants without focusing on the ovine or caprine origin of sample, and that also explain the 100% of positive samples in Al-Najaf province from only 3 samples which cannot represent the actual population of goats population in the province, and also the previous studies were followed the technique of precipitating antibodies which is less sensitive than competitive ELISA technique we used in this study (13).…”

“…Recently the disease was recorded in the region, and the disease was reported in Iran, Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey ,Yemen and Israel (10,15). The first serological evidence of the occurrence of the disease in Iraq was recorded during 1978 when a precipitating antibodies technique was used to detect specific antibodies to bluetongue virus in sheep and goat serum samples collected from animals slaughtered in Baghdad abattoir, and alsobluetongue specific antibodies was detected from clinical cases in Al-Ramadi and Al-Musaiyib districts during November 1975 and June 1976 from animals that shows clinical signs similar to the bluetongue (6,7).…”

Predicting the risk of bluetongue through time: climate model of temporal patterns of outbreaks in Istrael

“…The circulation of BTV often occurs without any detectable clinical signs either because up to 75% of the sheep population consists of relatively resistant breeds (35,57,61,65) or because the virus strains that are now circulating are avirulent, even in historically susceptible breeds. Whilst the annual variation in the level of BTV transmission may depend largely on the suitability of climatic conditions for vector populations, the annual variation in reported BT outbreaks will also depend on the variation in the susceptible proportion of the livestock population (i.e.…”

Investigation of bluetongue virus in Kurdish sheep in Kurdistan province of Iran

“…However, the incidence rates 54.1, 21.4, 34.7, and 6.1% were reported from Saudi Arabia (Yousef et al, 2012), Kazakhstan (Lundervold et al, 2003), South Eastern Turkey (Gür, 2008), and Iraq (Hafez et al, 1978), respectively. Iran is immediately adjacent to the BT zone where the situation (existence of disease) is unstable (Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Turkey) (Mellor and Widmann, 2002).…”