Abstract
Louping-ill virus (LIV) is a tickborne encephalitis flavivirus found almost exclusively in Great Britain. It causes life-threatening illness in economically valuable sheep and red grouse and occasionally infects agricultural animals and humans. Mountain hares and red deer help maintain the LIV lifecycle by hosting sheep ticks. The bite of Ixodes ricinus is the primary means of transmitting LIV to vertebrate hosts, but infection is also acquired from unpasteurized sheep or goat milk. Louping-ill in sheep has been associated with particular upland heather pastures since the 1800s. LIV was reported to cause typically asymptomatic human disease in the early 1930s. Infection rarely results in severe neurological disease, progressing from fever and slight ataxia to acute poliomyelitis. Recovery is prolonged, but usually complete. Vaccines are available for sheep, but not humans. Multiple vaccinations, together with acaricides, decrease infection of sheep. Culling and fencing decrease deer abundance and deer tick numbers.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
