Lethal Bluetongue Virus Serotype 1 Infection in Llamas

Bluetongue in Europe and the role of wildlife in the epidemiology of disease

“…Camelids have also been reported to be susceptible to BTV infection; a severe clinical signs with lethal disease was reported in naturally infected llamas (Meyer et al 2008) whereas experimental infection of two llamas induced specific antibodies against BTV but coursed asymptomatically (Afshar et al 1995). Also alpacas (Vicugna pacos) after experimental infection with BTV8 displayed very mild clinical signs.…”

Global health

“…Subsequently, the South of the United States, the Middle East, Asia, and Southern Europe were hit. Originally limited to subtropical regions, BTV has been established in various serotypes in large parts of Europe since 1998 and has caused there the greatest documented outbreak of all to date by killing 1.8 millions of animals (Maan et al, 2007;Meyer et al, 2009). After Europe had been considered as free of the disease since 1979 (with few exceptions), BT occurred at first on four Greek islands (Sailleau et al, 2005).…”

“…It is assumed that some BTV strains are able to infect the fetus via the placenta. For instance, a four-week-old calf of a BTV-positive dam was tested positive, too (Niedbalske, 2009) and in addition, BTV1-RNA was detected in liver and heart of a lama fetus (Meyer et al, 2009). The horizontal spread via semen is discussed, too.…”

Variation inBluetongue virusreal-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assay results in blood samples of sheep, cattle, and alpaca

“…Alpacas are known to be susceptible to BTV infection; however, their role in the epidemiology of this pathogen has yet to be investigated. 11,18 Bluetongue virus serotype 1 has been isolated from healthy and diseased llamas, 15 and isolated reports document detection of BTV by real-time qRT-PCR in alpacas with acute clinical disease in both California and Germany. 8,18 Conflicting findings were reported in Switzerland where a serological survey indicated that exposed animals were serologically negative by competitive enzymelinked immunosorbent assay, suggesting that New World camelids had not played an important role in BTV-8 spread since 2007.…”