Molecular Diagnosis and Seroepidemiology of Pestiviruses in Sheep

Abstract

In this research, the virological and serological presence of pestiviruses, such as border disease virus (BDV) was investigated in a sheep in the Central and Eastern Black Sea Regions of Turkey. The study material consisted of 40 organ materials collected from 13 aborted lambs, which were suspected to have pestiviruses, BDV and Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus (BVDV). Viral nucleic acids were investigated by using the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Nine of 13 aborted lambs (69.2%) and 24 of 40 organ samples (60%) obtained from those sheep were BDV RNA positive, whilst all the animals and organ samples were BVDV-RNA negative. Serum samples collected from 401 randomly selected sheep were investigated for pestivirus antibodies using competitive-ELISA (cELISA) and the serum microneutralisation test (SNT) using BVDV-NADL strain. Seropositivity was found in between 7.22 and 74.38% with cELISA and 4.81 and 67.76% with SNT. Seropositivity rates in Amasya and Tokat provinces were higher than in Samsun and Giresun. The obtained data indicated that pestivirus infection in sheep is widespread in the Central and Eastern Black Sea Region.