Infection kinetics and antibody responses in Deccani sheep during experimental infection and superinfection with bluetongue virus serotypes 4 and 16

Vet World Vol.12 January-2019 Article-5

Research Article

Veterinary World, 12(1): 41-47

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2019.41-47

Kalyani Putty¹, Abdul Muzeer Shaik², Shaik Jahangeer Peera², Y. Narasimha Reddy¹, P. P. Rao³, Sunil R. Patil¹, M. Shreekanth Reddy¹, B. Susmitha⁴, and J. Shiva Jyothi¹

1. Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Veterinary Biotechnology, College of Veterinary Science, Rajendranagar, P V Narasimha Rao Telangana Veterinary University, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
2. Veterinary Dispensary, Department of Animal Husbandry, Labbipet, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India.
3. Biovet, KIADB Industrial Area, Malur, Karnataka, India.
4. Ella Foundation, Genome Valley, Shamirpet, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.

Background and Aim: The current study was designed to understand the infection kinetics and antibody responses of major circulating serotypes of bluetongue virus (BTV) in India, i.e., BTV-4 and BTV-16 through experimental infection and superinfection of Deccani sheep, a popular breed of sheep found in the southern states of India.

Materials and Methods: Experimental infection with 106 TCID50/ml BTV-4 was followed by superinfection with BTV-16 and vice versa. Along with observing for clinical signs and immunological responses in the experimentally infected sheep, the effect of infection of one specific serotype on the outcome of superinfection with a different serotype was also studied.

Results: Certain interesting findings have been made in the course of experimental infection, such as prominent signs of infection in BTV-4 infection, mild or no clinical signs in BTV-16-infected and superinfected animals, and non-seroconversion of one of the BTV-16-superinfected animals. In addition, BTV was isolated from infected sheep in all the experimental conditions except BTV-16 superinfection. Furthermore, it was observed that immune response in the form of type-specific antibodies was slower with BTV-16 superinfection.

Conclusion: Superinfection of a sheep with more than one serotype of BTV is a common phenomenon in BT endemic countries like India. Such situation was replicated in an experimental infection in the current study, and the findings to our knowledge are first of a kind and are likely to aid in unfolding the newer aspects of BTV pathogenesis and virulence. Keywords: bluetongue, bluetongue virus-16, bluetongue virus-4, infection kinetics, superinfection.

Keywords: bluetongue, bluetongue virus-16, bluetongue virus-4, infection kinetics, superinfection.

How to cite this article: Putty K, Shaik AM, Peera SJ, Reddy YN, Rao PP, Patil SR, Reddy MS, Susmitha B, Jyothi JS (2019) Infection kinetics and antibody responses in Deccani sheep during experimental infection and superinfection with bluetongue virus serotypes 4 and 16, Veterinary World, 12(1): 41-47.

Received: 11-09-2018 Accepted: 14-11-2018 Published online: 07-01-2019

Corresponding author: Kalyani Putty E-mail: kalyaniputty@gmail.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2019.41-47

Copyright: Putty, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.