In September 2010, an outbreak of disease in 2 wild bird species (red-legged partridge, Alectoris rufa; ring-necked pheasant, Phasianus colchicus) occurred in southern Spain. Bagaza virus (BAGV) was identified as the etiological agent of the outbreak. BAGV had only been reported before in Western Africa (Central African Republic, Senegal) and in India. The first occurrence of BAGV in Spain stimulated a demand for rapid, reliable, and efficacious diagnostic methods to facilitate the surveillance of this disease in the field. This report describes a real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method based on a commercial 5’-Taq nuclease-3’ minor groove binder DNA probe and primers targeting the Bagaza NS5 gene. The method allowed the detection of BAGV with a high sensitivity, whereas other closely related flaviviruses ( Usutu virus, West Nile virus, and Japanese encephalitis virus) were not detected. The assay was evaluated using field samples of red-legged partridges dead during the outbreak ( n = 11), as well as samples collected from partridges during surveillance programs ( n = 81). The results were compared to those obtained with a pan-flaviviral hemi-nested RT-PCR followed by nucleotide sequencing, which was employed originally to identify the virus involved in the outbreak. The results obtained with both techniques were 100% matching, indicating that the newly developed real-time RT-PCR is a valid technique for BAGV genome detection, useful in both diagnosis and surveillance studies.

The Cerdanya valley in the eastern Pyrenees has a physical unity into which a political frontier has been imposed to divide it. The social and cultural repercussions of this Franco-Spanish border have created obstacles to marriage which are not due to topography. Choice of month of marriage is under cultural control and the study of seasonality in marriages recorded in the registers of all the Cerdan parishes on both sides of the border demonstrated differences over time and between French and Spanish sectors. It is suggested that these changes demonstrate the process of distancing of the two populations. Cluster and correspondence analysis showed progressive differentiation of the seasonality patterns of the French and Spanish Cerdans despite the geographic unity of the valley. Sociocultural factors are presumed responsible.

After more than 30 years without any reported cases of rabies in terrestrial carnivores in mainland Spain, an imported case was detected in June 2013 in Toledo. Although the infected dog was moved across different locations and had contact with humans and dogs, the incident was controlled within a few days. An epidemiological investigation was performed and rabies-free status in terrestrial carnivores in mainland Spain was restored six months after the incident. Key to the successful management of this case were the previous vaccination of susceptible animals in the affected area before the case was detected, the collaboration of different authorities in decision making, and the application of control measures according to national and international regulations and to the One Health concept.

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In this paper the records of 7844 marriages in the parishes of French and Spanish sectors of the Cerdanya Valley have been analysed. The Cerdanya is an eastern Pyrenean valley, today divided by the Franco-Spanish border, but once united within Catalonia. The results have been reported on the one hand on a small scale using local place names, and on the other hand on a wider scale across France and Spain, because interest lies both in the geographic range from which some marital partners have come and in the relative proportions of brides and grooms from the French and Spanish parts of Cerdanya and from adjacent districts. Both mountains and the Franco-Spanish border are shown to have reduced the likelihood of marriage. Inaccessible mountain barriers appear to have been a greater obstacle to marital movement than the border. Adjacent districts and local provinces have provided a greater proportion of brides and grooms than more distant ones, but thereafter frequencies from the further regions do not decrease with greater distance. More marital partners have moved from Spain to France than vice-versa, and mobility of grooms exceeded mobility of brides. Results are relevant to genetics and the current European interest in nationality and ethnicity.