Arboviruses recovered from sentinel cattle using several virus isolation methods.

A group of 20 sentinel steers was bled weekly for 5 months in 1986 and the blood samples were examined for arboviruses by inoculation firstly into embryonated chicken eggs (ECE), baby mice, Aedes albopictus cells and BHK21 monolayers. A second group of cattle was similarly examined for virus in 1987, except that baby mice were not used. Viruses were recovered from 26% of the 878 weekly bleeds. The viruses identified consisted of 14 types belonging to the bluetongue, epizootic haemorrhagic disease (EHD), Palyam and Simbu groups with a single isolation of bovine ephemeral fever virus. The ECE system was found to be the best for isolating bluetongue and Simbu viruses, though the eggs were not usually killed by the inoculum. The ECE and A. albopictus systems were equally sensitive for recovering EHD viruses, while Palyam group viruses were most efficiently isolated in BHK21 monolayers.