Researchers from Italy, France, and Tunisia warn that sheep can be a potential reservoir of epizootic hemorrhagic disease

In November 2022, the arrival of serotype 8 of epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHE) was confirmed on the islands of Sardinia and Sicily (Italy), in symptomatic cattle. This marked the first official EHE report in Europe. Later the disease spread to Spain, France and Portugal. The emergence of the EHE virus in Europe has posed new challenges for the livestock industry, as there are currently no licensed vaccines available and existing legislation imposes restrictions on trade in live domestic cattle and small ruminants from infected areas. To better understand the virus, a group of researchers from Italy, France and Tunisia have carried out a study in which they describe, for the first time, the results of an experimental infection with the recently emerged EHE serotype 8 in domestic ruminant species. , including cattle, sheep and goats. “To our knowledge, the only documented experimental infection of sheep and cattle with EHDV-8 dates back to 1986,” they indicate. In that study, ...