Epizootic Haemorrhagic Disease Virus Serotype 8 in Tunisia, 2021

Soufien Sghaier (1) , Corinne Sailleau (2) , Maurilia Marcacci (3) , Sarah Thabet (1) , Valentina Curini (3) , Thameur Ben Hassine (4) , Liana Teodori (3) , Ottavio Portanti (3) , Salah Hammami (5) , Lucija Jurisic (3, 6) , Massimo Spedicato (3) , Lydie Postic (2) , Ines Gazani (7) , Raja Ben Osman (8) , Stephan Zientara (2) , Emmanuel Bréard (2) , Paolo Calistri (3) , Jürgen Richt (9, 10) , Edward Holmes (11, 12) , Giovanni Savini (3) , Francesca Di Giallonardo (13) , Alessio Lorusso (3)

1 IRVT Institut de la Recherche Vétérinaire de Tunisie
2 VIRO - Virologie UMR1161
3 IZSAM - Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e del Molise Guiseppe Caporale
4 CRDA - Commissariat Régional au Développement Agricole de Kairouan
5 École Nationale de Médecine Vétérinaire de Sidi Thabet
6 UniTE - Università degli Studi di Teramo
7 Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Ressources hydrauliques et de la Pêche en Tunisie
8 LNCM - Laboratoire national de contrôle des médicaments
9 Department of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology
10 Kansas State University
11 School of Medical Sciences [Sydney, Australia]
12 The University of Sydney
13 UNSW - The Kirby Institute for Infection and Immunity in Society

Epizootic haemorrhagic disease (EHD) is a Culicoides-borne viral disease caused by the epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV) associated with clinical manifestations in domestic and wild ruminants, primarily white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and cattle (Bos taurus). In late September 2021, EHDV was reported in cattle farms in central/western Tunisia. It rapidly spread throughout the country with more than 200 confirmed outbreaks. We applied a combination of classical and molecular techniques to characterize the causative virus as a member of the serotype EHDV-8. This is the first evidence of EHDV- 8 circulation since 1982 when the prototype EHDV-8 strain was isolated in Australia. This work highlights the urgent need for vaccines for a range of EHDV serotypes.

Keywords: EHDV; Tunisia; Virus characterization; Epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus; Epizootic haemorrhagic disease; Ruminants; Deer; Cattle; EHDV-8

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]

Soufien Sghaier, Corinne Sailleau, Maurilia Marcacci, Sarah Thabet, Valentina Curini, et al.. Epizootic Haemorrhagic Disease Virus Serotype 8 in Tunisia, 2021. Viruses, 2023, 15 (1), pp.16. ⟨10.3390/v15010016⟩. ⟨anses-03908997⟩