Seroprevalence of bluetongue virus in some desert parts of Egypt

Abstract EN

A total of 703 serum samples collected from sheep, goats and camels from Shalatin, Abo-Ramad and Halayb Red Sea governorate South-eastern Egyptian borders were screened for the first time for bluetongue antibodies using Competitive Enzyme linked Immunosorbent Assay (c-ELISA).

In the present study, the Seropositivity of sheep, goats and camels for bluetongue was found to be 33.44 %, 34.81% and 27.97 % respectively.

It is clear that bluetongue virus (BTV) is prevalent in this border area.

However, the absence of clear symptoms in goats and camels during this study suggesting that, these animals act predominantly as a reservoir in maintaining BTV in the natural ecosystem.

Therefore, further studies to elucidate the exact role of these species in the epidemiology of the Bluetongue are warranted.