ABSTRACT
Infections of humans with the tick-borne Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) can cause a severe hemorrhagic fever with case fatality rates of up to 80%. Most humans are infected by tick bite, crushing infected ticks by hand or by unprotected contact with blood of viremic mammals. Next to the notified human CCHF cases, the real distribution and the situation in animals in Southeastern Europe are nearly unknown. Since domestic ruminants play a crucial role in the life cycle of the vector ticks and the transmission and amplification of the virus, the antibody prevalence in those animals is a good indicator for the presence of CCHFV in a region. Therefore, the prevalence of CCHFV-specific antibodies was investigated in domestic ruminants of different regions of Bulgaria and Turkey. Sera of 1165 ruminants were tested and a prevalence of up to 90% was identified. The overall prevalence for Bulgaria was 26% and for Turkey 57%. The results highlight the risk of human infections in those regions and the importance of the investigation of the prevalence in animals for identification of risk areas. This article provides a unique overview about published CCHFV antibody prevalence in animals in comparison to human incidences in different areas of Bulgaria and Turkey. Although it will help to complete the understanding of the CCHFV situation in these countries, it also demonstrates the lack of unpublished and published data even in these highly endemic areas.
Subject(s)
Antibodies, Viral/blood , Hemorrhagic Fever Virus, Crimean-Congo/isolation & purification , Hemorrhagic Fever, Crimean/veterinary , Ticks/virology , Animals , Bulgaria/epidemiology , Hemorrhagic Fever, Crimean/blood , Hemorrhagic Fever, Crimean/epidemiology , Humans , Ruminants , Seroepidemiologic Studies , Turkey/epidemiology , ZoonosesABSTRACT
The aim of this study is to investigate the profile of ovine PrP gene by amino acid polymorphism at codons 136, 141, 154, and 171 for determining the genetic predisposition to the Scrapie disease for the tribal sheep and rams, with different numbers and distribution in Bulgaria. Three hundred twenty four animals originating from 41 tribal herds comprising eight breeds were included in the study. DNA was isolated from blood samples specifically amplified by PCR and sequenced. The alignments of codons 136, 141, 154, and 171 were determined. Based on the sequencing, it was established that Bulgarian breeds belong to the second and third risk groups, those with low and moderate risk of Scrapie disease. Establishment of 11 genotypes in Synthetic Population Bulgarian Milk breed reveals it to have the highest risk of the Scrapie disease; moreover, the conducting of the program will be more difficult in comparison with other investigated breeds. Evidence for the internal cross breeding is the presence of the five or six genotypes in the Copper-Red Shoumen, Replian, Karakachan, and Duben Bulgarian native breeds.
