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Original Research
1.
High seroprevalence of bluetongue virus antibodies
in sheep, goat, cattle and camel in different
districts of Saudi Arabia -
Mohamed R Yousef, Ali Ahmed Al-Eesa, Mohamed H. Al-Blowi
Vet World. 2012; 5(7): 389-393
doi:
10.5455/vetworld.2012.389-393
Abstract
Aim: To estimate the prevalence and
distribution of serum antibodies to BTV in different
domesticated animals in different localities of
Saudi Arabia.
Materials and Methods: A total
of 4845 field sera collected from different animal
species within 10 districts in the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia were screened for the presence of
group-specific BTV antibodies by competitive ELISA
(c ELISA).
Results: The overall BTV antibody
prevalence was 54.1%, 53.3%, 44.8% and 25.7% in
sheep, goat, cattle and camel respectively (at 95%
confidence level). The Jizan and Eastern Province
districts were the regions with the highest
prevalence resulting 65.8% of sheep, 68.2% of goats,
49.3% of cattle, 44% of camel in Jizan and 65.8% of
sheep, 62.5% of goats, 53.4% of cattle, 28.5% of
camel in Eastern Province positive to c-ELISA. The
second highest rate was in Najran district where the
seropositivity for Bluetongue was found to be 60% of
sheep, 57.9% of goats, 47.2% of cattle and 29.3% of
camel. Our results recorded positive animals in all
examined districts which indicate serological
evidence of exposure to infection was widely
distributed all over the country.
Conclusions:
These results demonstrate the high occurrence of the
BTV that emphasize the necessity to a well-defined
control strategy for preventing and controlling the
BTV in Saudi Arabia.
Keywords: Bluetongue
virus; c-ELISA; Saudi Arabia; Seroprevalence
