Regional overview of bluetongue viruses, vectors, surveillance and unique features in Eastern Europe between 1998 and 2003.

Between 1998 and 2002, successive epidemic waves of bluetongue (BT) virus infection were recorded in the Balkans giving rise to clinical outbreaks of BT that caused severe direct losses of livestock in several countries, namely: Greece, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Kosovo, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania and probably Turkey and Croatia. Affected countries resorted to different control, safeguard, prevention and epidemiological/ surveillance measures against BT but comprehensive and reliable data are by and large lacking. This review attempts an analysis and extrapolation of the local epidemiological profiles and patterns documented in some countries in south-eastern Europe and - assuming that the evolution of BT in these countries reflects the situation of BT in the wider region - considers some relevant and timely questions of epidemiological significance.

Overview of bluetongue in Greece.

The history and epizootiology of bluetongue (BT) in Greece are described in detail. Three major epidemics of BT occurred in Greece, the first in 1979, due to bluetongue virus (BTV) serotype 4, in 1998-1999 due mainly to BTV-4 and BTV-9 and less to BTV-16 and in 2001 due mainly to BTV-1. The evolution of the disease, surveillance and control measures are presented, as well as the distribution of the BTV serotypes isolated.