Diagnostic
African horse sickness and Bluetongue are two very different OIE notifiable diseases: AHS affects to equidae and it is considered one of the most lethal diseases of horses, killing between 50 to 95% of infected animals, while BT virus infects ruminants causing ranges from subclinical infection to mild disease, and just in some cases to acute or even fatal disease.
On the other hand, both diseases have many things in common, mainly they are non-contagious viral diseases transmitted to animals primarily by Culicoides midges vectors and are produced by members of the same genus (Orbivirus). These similarities mean that similar diagnostic tools and control strategies are used in both diseases.
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Accordingly to EU Animal health law, the EURL will provide details and guidance about the collection of samples, the techniques, validation and interpretation of the diagnostic methods for the purposes of surveillance. In this context, the AHS&BT EURL provides diagnostic methods and an EU DIAGNOSTIC MANUAL for the best implementation of AHS and BT diagnosis in the EU-NRLs.
STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES
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FIRST STEP Serogroup diagnosis |
Sample preparation for Orbivirus isolation |
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Detection of BTV by rRT-PCR (Hofmann 2008b) |
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SECOND STEP Serotype identification |
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BTV typing by rRT-PCR (Maan 2016) |
AHSV typing by rRT-PCR (EURL) |
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