Arboviral Diseases in Livestock

A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Viruses".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 July 2025 | Viewed by 1735

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Veterinary Science, College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia
Interests: animal arboviral diseases; zoonotic viral diseases; viral diagnostics
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Guest Editor
Agricultural Research Council—Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, Pretoria 0110, South Africa
Interests: lumpy skin disease virus; African Swine Fever Virus; Bluetongue Viruses

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Arthropod-borne viruses or arboviruses impose a significant global burden on livestock production and, subsequently, food security. These viruses are transmitted by ticks, sand flies, mosquitoes, and biting midges. Due to climate change, the distribution of these insects has expanded, leading to the spread of transboundary epizootics of livestock-associated viruses. Examples of these transboundary excursions include genotype II African swine fever virus spreading from Africa to Europe, Asia, and Hispaniola. Similarly, bluetongue and epizootic haemorrhagic disease were recently reported in Europe, and African horse sickness viruses were identified in Thailand in 2020. The impacts of these viruses are not limited to the livestock-producing industry but also affect international trade, food production, and food security.

This Special Issue invites original research or reviews investigating the diagnostics, epidemiology, treatment, or control of arboviruses in livestock. Multidisciplinary contributions investigating the molecular epidemiology and diagnosis of these viruses are welcomed, as well as studies into novel vaccines or other control strategies to combat these viruses.

Prof. Dr. Estelle Venter
Dr. Antoinette Van Schalkwyk
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • arbovirus
  • epidemiology
  • diagnostics
  • vaccines

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 498 KiB  
Article
Development of New Probe-Based Real-Time RT-qPCR Assays for the Detection of All Known Strains of Bovine Ephemeral Fever Viruses
by Natalia Golender, Eyal Klement and Bernd Hoffmann
Viruses 2025, 17(3), 407; https://doi.org/10.3390/v17030407 - 13 Mar 2025
Viewed by 447
Abstract
Bovine ephemeral fever is an arthropod-borne viral disease that affects cattle and buffalo in many regions of the world; it causes heavy economic losses in the cattle industry. To date, all BEFV-specific diagnostic molecular assays have been based on the variable glycoprotein (G-protein)-coding [...] Read more.
Bovine ephemeral fever is an arthropod-borne viral disease that affects cattle and buffalo in many regions of the world; it causes heavy economic losses in the cattle industry. To date, all BEFV-specific diagnostic molecular assays have been based on the variable glycoprotein (G-protein)-coding genome region, potentially allowing the pathogen to escape detection. We developed two new assays, based on the less variable nucleoprotein genome region, and compared them with two G-protein-based assays. For this comparison, we used 245 samples comprising positive and negative field samples from Israeli outbreaks caused by different strains, belonging to lineage I and IIIa, as well as Australian and Japanese strains (lineages IV and IIIb). The new assays showed high agreement with the previous assay (Kappa = 0.92), detecting 144 out of 147 positive samples (sensitivity of 97.96%), and detected 6 more samples as positive out of 98 samples found negative by the G-protein-based assay. All nine non-agreeing results were validated as positive using a conventional RT-PCR assay. The new assays have higher analytical sensitivity than the previous assays, can be combined with internal controls, and enable the detection of all known BEFVs. The results indicate that these two nucleoprotein-based real-time RT-qPCRs can serve as fast, sensitive, and specific assays for the sustainable detection of BEFV strains. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Arboviral Diseases in Livestock)
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20 pages, 4330 KiB  
Article
Unique Nucleotide Polymorphism of African Swine Fever Virus Circulating in East Asia and Central Russia
by Roman Chernyshev, Ali Mazloum, Nikolay Zinyakov, Ivan Kolbin, Andrey Shotin, Fedor I. Korennoy, Alexander V. Sprygin, Ilya A. Chvala and Alexey Igolkin
Viruses 2024, 16(12), 1907; https://doi.org/10.3390/v16121907 - 11 Dec 2024
Viewed by 872
Abstract
The lack of data on the whole-genome analysis of genotype II African swine fever virus (ASFV) isolates significantly hinders our understanding of its molecular evolution, and as a result, the range of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) necessary to describe a more accurate and [...] Read more.
The lack of data on the whole-genome analysis of genotype II African swine fever virus (ASFV) isolates significantly hinders our understanding of its molecular evolution, and as a result, the range of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) necessary to describe a more accurate and complete scheme of its circulation. In this regard, this study aimed to identify unique SNPs, conduct phylogenetic analysis, and determine the level of homology of isolates obtained in the period from 2019 to 2022 in the central and eastern regions of Russia. Twenty-one whole-genome sequences of genotype II ASFV isolates were assembled, analyzed, and submitted to GenBank. The isolates in eastern Russia form two clades, “Amur 2022” and “Asia”. Within the latter clade, five subclusters can be distinguished, each characterized by a unique set of SNPs and indels. The isolates from the central regions of Russia (2019; 2021) form the “Center of Russia” clade, with two subclusters, “Bryansk 2021” and “Center of Russia 2021” (bootstrap confidence index = 99). The presence of the previously unique genetic variant ASFV for the Kaliningrad region in the wild boar population of the Khabarovsk region (eastern Russia; 2021) has also been confirmed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Arboviral Diseases in Livestock)
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