SBV SEROPREVALENCE AND RISK FACTORS EVALUATION AMONG DIARY CATTLE POPULATION IN CAMPANIA REGION

Schmallenberg virus (SBV) is an enveloped, negative-sense and single-stranded RNA virus belonged to the genus Orthobunyavirus in the Bunyaviridae family. SBV is transmitted though haematophagus insect vectors, especially by Culicoides spp. This pathogen was first described only in 2011 in Germany, however, nowadays is considered an emerging disease reported in most European countries and causing premature birth, stillbirth or severe malformations in newborn ruminants (1). Since no information are available about this infection in southern Italy, a serological survey was then carried out with the aim to estimate the SBV seroprevalence in dairy heifers in Campania region. A total of 424 serum samples were tested for the detection of antibodies against the SBV nucleocapsid protein using a commercial ELISA kit (IDEXX Schmallenberg Ab). A seroprevalence of 38.2% was observed, demonstrating the widespread viral exposure in bovine species, even if any SBV outbreaks were not ever notified in this area. Previous extensive studies performed in the same population but in other European countries highlighted a similar epidemiological situation, as in Ireland (33%), Netherlands (63.4%), Poland (37.5%) (2-4). The statistical analysis was performed to asses the correlation between potential risk factors (data collected by a questionnaire administered to farmers) and seropositivity to SBV. The univariate analysis showed statistical association among location (Benevento OR= 2.61) and herd size (OR= 2.02). Further investigations are in progress to evaluate the actual circulation by molecular biology approach (Real time PCR) and using Virus Neutralization (VTN) to exclude any cross-reaction and confirm the results observed in ELISA.