First Report of Bluetongue Virus Serotype 1 Isolated from a White-Tailed Deer in the United States

In November 2004, tissues were collected from a hunter-killed white-tailed deer in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana. Bluetongue virus (BTV) was isolated from the tissues; however, the isolate could not be identified as any of the US domestic serotypes. Subsequent testing by virus neutralization using serotype-specific antiserum tentatively identified the isolate as BTV serotype 1 (BTV-1), which had not previously been found in the United States. Primers were designed based on the sequence of an outer capsid protein gene of a South African BTV-1 strain. Reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction testing with the BTV-1 primers and product sequencing confirmed the Louisiana isolate as BTV-1. This is the first report of BTV-1 in the United States.