Abstract
Bluetongue virus serotype 4 (BTV-4) was confirmed in sheep in North Macedonia in July 2020. The full genome of this BTV-4 strain (MKD2020/06) was shown to be most closely related (99.74% nt identity) to the Greek GRE2014/08 and the Hungarian HUN1014 strains, indicating the re-emergence of this BTV serotype in the Balkan region since it was last reported in 2017.
Highlights
Bluetongue (BT) is a haemorrhagic disease of ruminants which is caused by the BT virus (BTV), the type species of the genus Orbivirus within the Reoviridae (Maclachlan, 2009)
There are 24 classical serotypes of BTV (BTV-1 to BTV-24) which are notifiable to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) (Kundlacz et al, 2019)
In June 2014, a new BTV-4 strain was detected in southern Greece and BT spread throughout the Balkan Peninsula in what was a BTV-4 naïve ruminant population
Summary
The last recorded outbreak of BTV-4 from the Balkan countries was reported to the OIE in 2017 with an outbreak occurring in the Zlatborski region of Serbia. In July 2020, Macedonian veterinarian authorities notified the OIE of BT in sheep in the Makedonski Brod and Kicevo municipalities. Farmers notified veterinary authorities of suspected BT in sheep on their small holdings, which were located in the same region as the initial report of BT in 2014.
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