Published in Scientific Works. Series C. Veterinary Medicine, Vol. LXII, Issue 1
Written by Nue MARKU, Kristaq BËRXHOLI, Jeton SPAHIU, Kurtesh SHERIFI, Agim REXHEPI
In recent years animal viral diseases transmitted by vectors are distributed fairly quickly in different regions of the world, including bluetongue virus (BTV). BT is a disease of ruminants transmitted by midges of the species Culicoides. The objective of the study was to describe seroprevalence rate of bluetounge virus in sheep flocks in different regions in Kosovo. The blood samples were collected randomly from sheep herds. The total 355 samples were collected, in 55 sheep herds, from 9 municipalities in 42 villages in whole Kosovo, between year 2014 and 2015. Antibodies for BTV in sera were detected by competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (c-ELISA) according to manufacturer instructions. Out of total 355 serum samples 32 sheep (9.014) were positive for BTV antibodies, from 9 municipalities in two regions. The highest prevalence of BTV antibodies were detected in Vitia municipality (16.42%) followed by Kamenica (14.81%), and Gjilani (10.00%), municipalities belonging to the same region, and the lowest prevalence in Shterpc (5.56), and Kaçanik (5.26%). This study describes seroprevalence of BTV in sheep flocks in Kosovo indicating widespread prevalence of BTV antibodies in studied regions.
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