Activities in 2009
Bluetongue
Dr Chris Oura, Dr Carrie Batten, Prof Peter Mertens and Prof Philip Mellor
IAH- Pirbright, Ash Rd, Pirbright GU24 0NF, United Kingdom
Tel.: (+44 1483) 23441, Fax: (+44 1483) 23 24 48
e-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
websites: http://www.iah.bbsrc.ac.uk/ and http://bluetonguevirus.org
Summary of general activities related to the disease
1. Test(s) in use/or available for the specified disease at your laboratory
Test
For
Specificity
Total
ELISA
Antibody
Group
1801
SNT
Virus
Type
77
PCR (gel based and real time)
Virus
Type
115 (against
multiple serotypes)
Real time PCR
Virus
Group
24015
Seg 2
9
Sequence analysis and Phylogenetic
comparison of Seg 2
Egg inoculation
Virus isolation
4 (generally use KC
cells)
BHK-21 cell culture
Virus isolation
17*
KC cell culture
Virus isolation
40*
* number successful isolations
2.
Production and distribution of diagnostic reagents:
1.
2009 ring-trial samples (10 EDTA blood and 8 serum): Sent to 35 countries including all EU National
reference laboratories.
2.
BTV- reference serum: BTV-1, 6, 8 and 11 antisera were supplied to the Central Veterinary Institute,
Netherlands. BTV-1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 16 reference antisera were supplied to the Institute for Diagnostics
and Animal Health, Romania. BTV-1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 16 reference antisera were supplied to the Austrian
agency for Health and food safety. BTV-1 to 24 reference antisera were supplied to Biopharma, Morocco.
BTV-1 to 24 reference antisera were sent to the Scientific Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Serbia and the
Russian National Institute of Veterinary Virology. BTV- 4, 9 and 16 reference antisera were supplied to
Turkey.
3.
BTV-reference viruses: BTV-6 and 8 sent to Central Veterinary Institute, The Netherlands. BTV-1 was
supplied to Biobest, Scotland and the Czech Republic. BTV-8 was supplied to Estonia. BTV-1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9,
11 and 16 reference strains supplied to the Institute for Diagnostics and Animal Health, Romania. BTV-1 to
Annual reports of OIE Reference Laboratories and Collaborating Centres, 2009
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Bluetongue
24 reference viruses were supplied to Biopharma, Morocco. BTV-1 to 24 reference viruses were sent to the
Russian National Institute of Veterinary Virology.
4.
RNA from BTV Reference strains: Supplied to the Department of Diagnostic Research, Netherlands.
5.
BTV field isolates: NET2008/05 BTV-6 was supplied to the National Veterinary Institute, Norway.
MOR2009/01 BTV-1 and MOR2009/07 BTV-4 were supplied to Spain. BTV-1 vaccine challenge strain
were sent to Intervet (Netherlands). NET2008/05 BTV-6 strain for vaccine development supplied to Merial
(France).
6
BTV monoclonal antibody (Mab): Sent to Laboratoire Service International (LSI), France.
7.
BTV positive control serum: Supplied to the Danish Institute for Food and Veterinary Research and
Veterinary laboratory Agency, UK.
Activities specifically related to the mandate
of OIE Reference Laboratories
3.
International harmonisation and standardisation of methods for diagnostic testing or the
production and testing of vaccines.
In our capacity as the Community Reference Laboratory (CRL) for Bluetongue (BT) and OIE Reference
Laboratory for BT, we are continuing to strengthen contacts and improve harmonisation in testing between the
National Reference Laboratories of Member States of the EU and Member Countries of OIE. To help achieve this
goal a panel of eight test sera were prepared in 2009 and were distributed to 36 National BT Laboratories in July –
September 2009 as part of an intra-laboratory comparison test for ELISA. In addition a panel of 10 EDTA blood
samples for use in PCR testing were sent out to 30 participating laboratories. Laboratories were asked to serotype
the virus if serotyping capabilities existed. Intra-laboratory results were reported at a meeting of national
bluetongue reference labs held in Brussels in November 2009.
4.
Preparation and supply of international reference standards for diagnostic tests or vaccines.
Reference standards of viruses are prepared as part of an ongoing programme of maintenance of virus and reagent
stocks and for QA purposes. Antiserum is regularly supplied to provide control material for ELISA and SNT.
5.
Research and development of new procedures for diagnosis and control.
1.
2.
3.
4.
2
Real time RT-PCR assays for the European serotypes of BTV, BTV-1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11 16 and 25 have been
validated and commercialised with Laboratoire Service International (LSI), France. In addition prototype
assays for the remaining BTV serotypes have been developed and evaluated. Primer and probe sequences for
BTV-15 and BTV-24 have been passed to LSI for commercialisation.
A BTV group-specific real-time RT-PCR assay has been commercialised with Qiagen that can be used to
detect both Eastern and Western topotypes of the virus. The identification of different virus lineages, using
the BTV sequence database at IAH, can now provide more detailed information concerning the geographic
origins and movements of individual virus strains. This provides valuable information concerning the routes
of movement and risks posed by BTV outbreaks in locations around the world, particularly in countries on
the borders of Europe.
A reporting system has been established to provide detailed information concerning molecular
characterisation of BTV isolates that are sent to the reference lab for analyses. These reports, that are sent to
the submitting laboratory, provide both similarity data and phylogenetic trees to related field, vaccine and
reference strains.
Challenge experiments were carried out to assess the efficacy of the inactivated BTV vaccine that was used
to vaccinate UK livestock in 2008. These experiments proved a high level of vaccine efficacy which lasted
for up to 9 months in sheep vaccinated once. Further challenge experiments proved that lambs, born from
sheep vaccinated twice with the second booster vaccine given one month prior to lambing, were clinically
protected for up to 14 weeks of age by colostral antibodies.
Annual reports of OIE Reference Laboratories and Collaborating Centres, 2009
Bluetongue
6.
Collection, analysis and dissemination of epizootiological data relevant to international disease
control
The OIE reference laboratory at Pirbright responded to a request from the Belgium reference laboratory to
serotype samples from animals that they had found to be positive for BTV, but not serotype 1, 6 or 8 which were
circulating in Europe at the time. The virus was rapidly serotyped as BTV-11 by serum neutralisation tests (SNT)
and confirmed by conventional RT-PCR. This is the first report of BTV-11 in Europe. Unfortunately due to the
condition of the blood sample and its high Ct value no virus could be isolated, although the sequence data that was
generated for genome segment 2 was identical to that of the South African BTV-11 attenuated vaccine strain.
However, these data do not explain how the virus arrived in Northern Europe.
BTV was confirmed in Oman, Israel, Morocco and Greece. The isolates from Oman were serotyped as BTV-1, 4,
8 and 16 using both serotype specific conventional RT-PCR assays and real-time RT-PCR assays. However,
sequence analyses of these viruses indicated that they had not been derived from the outbreaks in Europe and the
Mediterranean region but represented distinct introductions of viruses from African lineages (most likely from Sub
Saharan Africa). Using the same set of assays, Israeli samples were found to contain BTV-4, 5, 8, 16 and 24. This
was the first time BTV-5, 8 and 24 were found in Israel. Greek samples were serotyped as BTV-8 and BTV-16
and Moroccan samples were confirmed to contain BTV-1 and BTV-4.
Representative isolates from each of these outbreaks were sequenced and molecular epidemiology reports
detailing the VP2 sequences as well as phylogenetic comparisons with related viruses were supplied to the
submitting country.
7.
Provision of consultant expertise to OIE or to OIE Members
Staff within the OIE reference laboratory at Pirbright reviewed the bluetongue chapter in the ‘Manual of
Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals’ (2009).
Staff attended the second meeting of OIE Bluetongue Reference laboratories in Teramo, Italy in June 2009.
Expertise has been provided to Merial, Fort-Dodge and Intervet, concerning the use of different strains of BTV for
vaccine development and testing. Expertise has also been provided to the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (at
New Haw, in Surrey UK) concerning the evaluation of vaccine dossiers for inactivated BTV vaccines.
8.
Provision of scientific and technical training to personnel from other OIE Members
In April a BTV training course was held at IAH Pirbright, six participants from four countries took part (Morocco,
Malaysia, Jordan and China). The course consisted of lectures, practical demonstrations and hands on practical
work. Topics covered included BTV diagnosis, insect vector identification and molecular epidemiology.
As part of an ongoing OIE twinning project with the Moroccan National Reference laboratory staff from the OIE
reference laboratory, Pirbright have supplied reference viruses and antisera for all 24 serotypes of BTV to the
laboratory. In addition staff visited the Moroccan laboratory and helped set up KC cell culture for virus isolation
and serotype specific real time RT-PCR assays for BTV. In addition two scientists from the Moroccan National
Reference laboratory visited the IAH with samples from a BTV experiment performed in Morocco. The scientists
were trained in all the techniques required to analyse the samples.
9.
Provision of diagnostic testing facilities to other OIE Members
Diagnosis of BTV and serotype identification by serology and real-time RT-PCR was performed for Belgium,
Greece, Oman, Israel and Morocco.
Numerous serology and real-time RT-PCR assays have been performed on behalf of the UK’s farming community
for pre-movement and pre-export testing.
10. Organisation of international scientific meetings on behalf of OIE or other international bodies
The OIE Reference Laboratory, under its remit as CRL organised a BT Ring Trial meeting in Brussels (30 th
November 2009) for the benefit of national and international reference laboratories and other concerned parties.
Annual reports of OIE Reference Laboratories and Collaborating Centres, 2009
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Bluetongue
Members of staff participated in the organisation of the MedReoNet (an EU funded FP7 network concerning BTV)
that was held in Lisbon during December 2009. Members of staff presented numerous papers and posters.
11. Participation in international scientific collaborative studies
An OIE - accredited twinning arrangement was successfully set up in October 2008 with the Moroccan National
Reference laboratory for BT and AHS. Staff from the OIE reference laboratory, Pirbright have visited the
Moroccan laboratory in 2009 and given advice on test selection and virus isolation techniques.
12. Publication and dissemination of information relevant to the work of OIE (including list of
scientific publications, internet publishing activities, presentations at international conferences)

Presentations at international conferences and meetings
Peter Mertens - Bluetongue in Northern Europe: an update – Invited Symposium Lecture, Esteve Veterinaria (in
New York) 28th February 2009
Batten, C.A., Darpel, K.E., Veronesi, E., Williamson, S., Anderson, P., Dennison, M., Clifford, S., Smith, C.,
Philips, L,. Bachanek-Bankowska, K., Sanders, A., Bin-Tarif, A.,Wilson, A., Gubbins, S., Mertens, P. P. C., Oura
C. A. L., and P. S. Mellor. Transplacental transmission of Bluetongue Serotype 8 (BTV-8) in the United Kingdom
(2007-2008). Epizone, 12th -14th May 2009, Antalya, Turkey.
Peter Mertens - The emergence and spread of Bluetongue virus across Europe: Climate change, insect vectors and
vaccination - Invited Symposium Lecture Society of General Microbiology Annual Virology Symposium (the
Legacy of Fleming), Harrogate 29th March to 2nd April 2009
Peter Mertens - What does the future hold? Emerging diseases/new vaccines - Bluetongue in Northern Europe National Office of Animal Health. Food Chain Conference. , Invited symposium talk at the Royal Scociety, 25th
March 2009
Peter Mertens - Bluetongue virus in Northern Europe: Are we over the worst? - Invited Plenary lecture: Glasgow
Annual Virology Symposium 30th January 2009
Batten, C.A., Darpel, K.E., Veronesi, E., Williamson, S., Anderson, P., Dennison, M., Clifford, S., Smith, C.,
Philips, L,. Bachanek-Bankowska, K., Sanders, A., Bin-Tarif, A.,Wilson, A., Gubbins, S., Mertens, P. P. C., Oura
C. A. L., and P. S. Mellor. Transplacental transmission of Bluetongue Serotype 8 (BTV-8) in the United Kingdom
(2007-2008). WALVD, 17th – 20th June 2009, Madrid, Spain.
Mertens PPC, The emergence and spread of bluetongue virus in Europe 1998-2009: Med-Vet-Net meeting El
Escorial, Spain 2nd June 2009
Mertens PPC "The emergence and spread of Bluetongue virus across Europe: The impact of climate change, insect
vectors and vaccination" Invited Keynote Lecture: 10th dsRNA Virus Symposium, Hamilton Island 21st June 2009.
Sushila Maan, Narender S. Maan, Kyriaki Nomikou, A. C. Potgieter, Piet van Rijn and Peter P.C. Mertens (oral
presentation) Full genome characterization of bluetongue virus serotype 6 from the Netherlands 2008 and
comparison to other strains. 10th dsRNA Virus Symposium, Hamilton Island 21st June 2009 .
Narender S. Maan, Kyriaki Nomikou, Sushila Maan, and Peter P.C. Mertens. Identification of reassortant
bluetongue viruses from the western Mediterranean region, 10th dsRNA Virus Symposium, Hamilton Island 21st
June 2009.
Kyriaki Nomikou, Sushila Maan, Narender S. Maan, and Peter P.C. Mertens. Genome segment reassortment
between two serotypes of bluetongue virus circulating in the eastern Mediterranean region. 10th dsRNA Virus
Symposium, Hamilton Island 21st June 2009.
S.Gold, P. Monaghan, S. Berryman, H.O.Alpar, P.P.C. Mertens and T.Jackson. Cell Entry of Bluetongue Virus.
10th dsRNA Virus Symposium, Hamilton Island 21st June 2009.
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Annual reports of OIE Reference Laboratories and Collaborating Centres, 2009
Bluetongue
Andrew E. Shaw, Paul Monaghan, H. Oya Alpar and Peter P.C. Mertens. The Role of Bluetongue virus
Untranslated Regions in viral mRNA Translation 10th dsRNA Virus Symposium, Hamilton Island 21st June 2009.
Chris Oura, James Wood, Toby Floyd and Carrie Batten. 8th International Congress of Veterinary Virology,
Budapest: Bluetongue virus in Northern Europe: Vaccination strategies and protection in sheep. 24th -26th August.
Peter Mertens, Sushila Maan, Narender Maan, Kyriaki Nomikou, Kasia Bankowska, Christiann Potgieter,
Houssam Attoui , Alan Samuel : ‘Equine encephalosis virus and other Equine Orbiviruses : Current status and
diagnostic RT-PCr development.’ US Animal Health (USAH) meeting and American Association of Veterinary
Laboraory Diagnosticians (AAVLD) meeting, San Diego October 2009.
Peter Mertens, Sushila Maan, Christiaan Potgeiter, Kyriaki Nomikou and Narender Maan (2009) ‘The molecular
epidemiology of bluetongue virus infection in Europe & the impact of vaccination’ US Animal Health (USAH)
meeting and American Association of Veterinary Laboraory Diagnosticians (AAVLD) meeting, San Diego
October 2009.
Peter Mertens, Sushila Maan, Narender Maan, Kyriaki Nomikou, Kasia Bankowska, Pottie Potgieter, Houssam
Attoui , Alan Samuel (2009) Orbivirus Diseases of Horses: African and Peruvian horse sickness, encephalosis, and
beyond –Department of Veterinary Medicine UC Davis, University of California, October 2009.
Mellor PS “Climatic effects on arbovirus occurrence with special reference to bluetongue and AHS”. Keynote
address, Nordic-Baltic Veterinary Contingency Group, Riga, Latvia, 14 th October 2009.
Mellor PS : “Climatic effects on arbovirus occurrence”. The annual Margary lecture to a combined meeting of the
Royal Meteorological Society and the Royal Entomological Society, Imperial College.
K.E.Darpel, K.F. Langner, G.Venter, L.Hunt, D. Kurian, A.C. Potgieter, H. Attoui, P.Mellor, H.H.Takamatsu
AND P.P.C. Mertens (2009) ‘Investigation of saliva proteins from different Culicoides species and their
interaction with the bluetongue virus particle’. MedReoNet meeting Lisbon December 2009:
S. Maan, Maan, N.S., Bankowska, K., Nomikou, K. and P. P.C. Mertens (2009) ‘Development of novel
diaganostic assays for Orbiviral diseases of domestic and wild animals.’ MedReoNet meeting Lisbon December
2009:
Nomikou, K., Maan, S., Maan, N.S., and P. P.C. Mertens (2009) Molecular Epidemiology of BTV-9 in the
Mediterranean region ’. MedReoNet meeting Lisbon December 2009:
Houssam Attoui, Fauziah Mohd Jaafar, Sushila Maan, and Peter Mertens (2009) Reverse genetics for dsRNA
viruses. MedReoNet meeting Lisbon December 2009.
Chris Oura (2009) Epidemiology in Northern Europe: Bluetongue symposium entitled: Bluetongue control in
Europe – New Challenges and Achievments, Amsterdam, NL. 2-3rd March 2009.
Chris Oura (2009) Bluetongue – the present epidemiological situation in Europe and opportunities to control the
disease. The International Scientific Conference in Poland organized by the Department of Ruminant Diseases,
National Veterinary Institute in Pulawy together with Polish Buiatrics Society and Buiatrics Section. Pulawy,
Poland. April 2009.
Chris Oura (2009) Information dissemination and the response of the UK to Bluetongue. The second meeting of
OIE Bluetongue Reference laboratories in Teramo, Italy 1-2nd June 2009.
Chris Oura (2009) Bluetongue – a true transboundary disease. VLA International Conference - Animal Diseases
2009 at Royal Holloway University, Surrey, UK 2nd -3rd Sept 2009.

Scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals
Batten,C.A., Sanders, A.J., Bachanek-Bankowska, K., Bin-Tarif, A., and Oura, C.A.L (2009). Bluetongue virus:
European Community proficiency test (2007) to evaluate ELISA and RT-PCR detection methods with special
reference to pooling of samples. Veterinary Microbiology, 135, (3-4), 380-383
Annual reports of OIE Reference Laboratories and Collaborating Centres, 2009
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Bluetongue
Batten CA, van Rijn PA and Oura CAL (2009). Detection of the European “field” strain of bluetongue virus
serotype
6
by
real-time
RT-PCR.
Veterinary
Microbiology,
e-publication:
(http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.vetmic.2009.08.008)
Burgin L, Gloster J and Mellor PS (2009). Why were there no outbreaks of bluetongue in the UK during 2008?
Veterinary Record, 164, 384-387.
C.A.L Oura, J.L.N. Wood, A.J Sanders, A. Bin-Tarif, M. Henstock, L. Edwards, T. Floyd, H. Simmons , and C.A
Batten (2009). Seroconversion, Neutralising Antibodies and Protection in Bluetongue Serotype 8 Vaccinated
Sheep. Vaccine, 27, 7326-7330.
Carpenter S, Wilson A & Mellor PS (2009). Bluetongue virus and Culicoides in the UK: The impact of research
on policy. Outlooks on Pest Management, 20, 161-164.
Carpenter, S., Wilson, A and Mellor PS. (2009). Culicoides and the emergence of bluetongue virus in northern
Europe. Trends in Microbiology, 17, 172-178.
Darpel, KE, Batten CA, Veronesi E, Williamson S, Anderson P, Dennison M, Clifford S, Smith C, Philips L,
Bidewell C, Bachanek-Bankowska K, Sanders A, Bin-Tarif A, Wilson A, Gubbins S, Mertens PPC, Oura CA &
Mellor PS (2009). Evidence for a high transplacental transmission rate of the north European BTV-8 strain from
dams to calves in British cattle. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 15(12):2025-8.
De Clercq K., Mertens PPC., , De Leeuw, Oura CAL, Houdart P, Maan S, Hooyberghs J, Batten C,
Vandemeulebroucke E, Maan N, Sanders A, Vanderstede Y, Nomikou K, Raymaekers M, Bin-Tarif A, Henstock
M, Bréard E, Dubois E, Zientara S, Vandenbussche F (2009) Emergence of bluetongue serotypes in Europe, Part
2: the occurrence of a BTV-11 strain in Belgium. Transbound Emerg Dis. 2009 Dec;56(9-10):355-61.
Hemati B, Contreras V, Urien C, Bonneau M, Takamatsu H-H, Mertens PPC, Bréard E, Sailleau C, Zientara S and
Schwartz-Cornil I (2009) Conventional dendritic cells disseminate the bluetongue hemorrhagic fever virus via skin
lymph. Journal of Virology, 83, 8789-8799.
Hoffmann B, Beer M, Reid SM, Mertens PPC, Oura CAL, van Rijn PA, Slomka MJ, Banks J, Brown IH,
Alexander DJ and King DP (2009) A review of RT-PCR technologies used in veterinary virology and disease
control: Sensitive and specific diagnosis of five livestock diseases notifiable to the World Organisation for Animal
Health. Veterinary Microbiology, 139(1-2):1-23.
Lefevre P-C, Mellor PS & Saegerman C (2009). Bluetongue. In: Infectious & Parasitic Diseases of Livestock,
Lavoisier, France, Chapter 56, pp. 659-684.
Maclachlan NJ, Drew CP, Darpel KE and Worwa G (2009). The pathology and pathogenesis of bluetongue.
Journal of Comparative Pathology, 141, 1-16.
Masaki Uchida, Xiong Wei Li, Peter Mertens, H. Oya Alpar (2009) Transfection by particle bombardment:
Delivery of plasmid DNA into mammalian cells using gene gun Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 1790 (2009) 754–
764.
Nomikou K, Dovas CI, Maan S, Anthony SJ, Samuel AR, Papanastassopoulou M, Maan NS, Mangana O and
Mertens PPC (2009) Evolution and phylogenetic analysis of full-length VP3 genes of eastern Mediterranean
bluetongue virus isolates. Plos One, 4, 1-12.
Ozkul A, Erturk A, Caliskan E, Sarac F, Ceylan C, Mertens PPC, Kabakli O, Dincer E and Cizmeci SG (2009)
Segment 10 based molecular epidemiology of bluetongue virus (BTV) isolates from Turkey: 1999-2001. Virus
Research, 142, 134-139.
Papadopoulos E, Bartram D, Carpenter S, Mellor PS and Wall R (2009). Efficiency of alphacypermethrin applied
to cattle and sheep against the biting midge Culicoides nubeculosus. Veterinary Parasitology, 163, 110-114.
Russell CL, Heesom KJ, Arthur CJ, Helps CR, Mellor PS, Day MJ, Torsteinsdottir S, Björnsdóttir TS, Wilson AD.
(2009) Identification and isolation of cDNA clones encoding the abundant secreted proteins in the saliva proteome
of Culicoides nubeculosus. Insect Molecular Biology,18, 383-93.
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Annual reports of OIE Reference Laboratories and Collaborating Centres, 2009
Bluetongue
Szmaragd, C., Wilson, A., Carpenter, S., Wood, J.L.N., Mellor, P.S. and Gubbins, S. (2009) A modelling
framework to describe the transmission of bluetongue virus within and between farms in Great Britain. PLoS
ONE, 4, (e7741, e-Publication).
Temizel E.M., Yesilbag K., Batten C., Senturk S., Maan NS., Mertens P., and Batmaz H. epizootic haemorrhagic
disease in cattle in Western Turkey (2009) Emerging infectious diseases, 15, (2).
Uchida M, Li WL, Mertens PPC, and Alpar O. (2009). Transfection by particle bombardment: delivery of plasmid
DNA into mammalian cells using gene gun. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, 1790, 754-764.
Valérie Chaignat, Gabriella Worwa, Nicole Scherrer, Monika Hilbe, Felix Ehrensperger, Carrie Batten, Mandy
Cortyen, Martin Hofmann and Barbara Thuer. Toggenburg Orbivirus, a new bluetongue virus: Initial detection,
first observations in field and experimental infection of goats and sheep. (2009) Veterinary Microbiology, 138, 1119.
Veronesi E, Darpel KE, Hamblin C, Carpenter S, Takamatsu H-H, , Anthony SJ, Elliott H, Mertens PPC and
Mellor PS (2009). Viraemia and clinical disease in Dorset Poll; sheep following vaccination with live attenuated
bluetongue virus vaccines serotypes 16 and 4. Vaccine 2009 Nov 4. [Epub ahead of print]
Veronesi, E., G. Venter, K. Labuschagne, P.S. Mellor and S. Carpenter. “Life history parameters of Culicoides
imicola Kieffer in the laboratory” Veterinary Parasitology, 162, 370-373.
Wilson A & Mellor PS (2009). Bluetongue in Europe: past, present and future. PhilosophicalTransactions of the
Royal Society Series B, “Livestock Diseases & Zoonoses” 364, 2669-2681.
Wilson A, Mellor PS, Szmaragd C, Mertens PP. (2009) Adaptive strategies of African horse sickness virus to
facilitate vector transmission. Vet Res. 2009 Mar-Apr;40(2):16. Epub 2008 Dec 19.

Other communications
A number of communications have been made to the Media by reference laboratory staff concerning BTV during
the current reporting period. These have included a series of TV and radio appearances and articles/interviews in
national and local press.
Staff of the Reference laboratory also participated in numerous meetings with EFSA and Defra focussing on the
northern European BTV outbreaks. Advice was provided to the European Commission, SCOFCAH, Defra,
Scottish Government, Welsh Assembly, Government of NI, Irish Government, national laboratories, international
laboratories and other concerned bodies.
A number of communications have been made to the UK National Farmers union and other concerned bodies to
increase exposure of the threat of BTV and related orbiviruses.
13. Inscription of diagnostic kits on the OIE Register
i)
Did you participate in expert panels for the validation of candidate kits for inscription on the
OIE Register? If yes, for which kits?
No
ii)
Did you submit to the OIE candidate kits for inscription on the OIE Register? If yes, for
which kits?
No
_______________
Annual reports of OIE Reference Laboratories and Collaborating Centres, 2009
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