Abstract
Enzootic Bovine Leukosis (EBL), caused by the bovine leukemia virus (BLV), has been eradicated in over 20 countries, most of which are in Western Europe. The European Commission, in 2017, declared Italy to be an officially EBL-free country by means of Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2017/1910, despite the presence of some infection clusters located in four regions of Central-Southern Italy. As a consequence of persisting infection, the Italian Ministry of Health established specific eradication measures in these areas. In collaboration with the National Reference Laboratory for the Study of Ruminant Retroviral Infectious Diseases, the Ministry of Health employed data from the veterinary information system digital platform, combined with a gap analysis exercise, to monitor and verify the progress of control activities within infection clusters during the period 2018–2021. Our aim was to identify any remaining gaps and, consequently, specific measures to eliminate the factors favouring EBL persistence, on the basis of a description and analysis of the current data regarding epidemiological trends in Italian clusters. The final goal is to achieve the implementation of a less expensive surveillance plan in these areas, as well. The results of comprehensive analysis showed that the eradication activities had been effectively implemented by official local veterinary services, resulting in a drastic reduction of EBL outbreaks in most territories during the period 2018–2021.
Highlights
Enzootic Bovine Leukosis (EBL) [1,2] is a chronic infectious disease caused by the bovine leukaemia virus (BLV), an exogenous Deltaretrovirus belonging to the Retroviridae family
The data extracted from VETINFO confirm that Italy, following Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2017/1910 [29], is able to maintain its official EBL-free status, several persistent clusters of infection are still present in central and southern Italy
All four regions containing EBL clusters were invited to participate in the gap analysis exercise, but Sicily was later exempted, having already demonstrated the eradication of the cluster identified in the Messina province
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Enzootic Bovine Leukosis (EBL) [1,2] is a chronic infectious disease caused by the bovine leukaemia virus (BLV), an exogenous Deltaretrovirus belonging to the Retroviridae family. EBL occurs mainly in adult cattle (Bos taurus), but other species are susceptible to experimental infection (e.g., sheep—Ovis aries) [3] and infection under natural conditions (e.g., water buffalo—Bubalus bubalis) [4,5]. The potential risks of BLV for human health were recently confirmed, because the virus was detected in the breast tissue and blood of Iranian women using nested PCR [6], there is no other robust evidence of human infection with EBL
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