Seroepidemiology of bluetongue disease and risk factors in small ruminants of Shiraz suburb, Fars province, Iran.

Bluetongue virus (BTV) is a member of the genus Orbivirus in the family Reoviridae which is transmitted by insects and could cause considerable damages in sheep and goat flocks, such as mortality, decreased production and fertility, medical costs and commercial limits for flocks and their biologic production. As no study has been conducted on small ruminants about this disease in Fars province of Iran, the present study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence of the disease and some risk factors that might be related to it. A total of 200 serum samples were collected from 13 flocks including nomadic animals (70%) and resident flocks (30%) using a cluster random sampling method with an equal proportion of sheep and goats during the last three months of 2010. Some risk factors such as age, breed and abortion, exposure to other flocks, density and female replacement origin were reported in a question sheet. Totally, 73.5% of the samples were positive for presence of BTV antibody.The results showed that age and contact with other herds are influential risk factors on seroprevalence of the disease.