Seroprevalence of culicoides-borne disease in cattle in European Turkey *

Summary: In this research, seroprevalence of BTV serotypes (BTV-4, BTV-9, BTV-16), and occurrence of Akabane and Ephemeral fever viruses were investigated in 557 cattle sera collected from 21 locations in European Turkey (Thrace). Virus neutralization test was used to discriminate antibody response against BTV serotypes while commercial blocking-ELISA systems were used to detect antibodies for Akabane and ephemeral fever viruses. The overall seroprevalence of BTV was recorded as 73.54%, comprising individual percentages for BTV-4, BTV-9 and BTV-16 were 69.04%, 71.38% and 80.2%, respectively. The seroprevalence of Ephemeral fever virus infection in Thrace varied between 2.5 and 15.3% on the province basis, whilst antibody percentage for Akabane virus was found as low as 0.14% in the study.