Development of diagnostic systems, reference collections and molecular epidemiology studies for important arboviral pathogens of livestock in India

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Outbreaks of arboviral diseases are a significant burden on livestock / farming communites in India. The severity of BT outbreaks in Indian sheep has increased significantly in recent decades, reaching 30% in some areas. However, very few Indian BTV isolates have been genetically or phenotypically characterised, creating a major barrier to local validation of diagnostics and to control strategies, including development of vaccines. During the past 25 years, multiple strains of BTV and other arboviruses have emerged in Europe, possibly linked to changes in climate and global trade. However, a lack of data limits our ability to understand, respond to and control these events.



We will address these knowledge-gaps by isolating, identifying and characterising arboviruses from India, to study their distribution, abundance, relationships, and movements that result in disease outbreaks. Well characterised and documented virus isolates will be generated in India, as a basis for a reference collection of„Indian arboviruses?, focussing particularly on BTV and the other orbiviruses. This will provide materials for local development of relevant vaccines and validation/further-development of diagnostic assays for identification, detection and surveillance of these viruses on the Indian subcontinent.



Diagnosis, isolations, sequencing, phylogenetics and virus storage will be undertaken in India, with assistance from Pirbright. Phylogenetic and evolutionary analyses will be performed at Pirbright and Glasgow. Pathology studies will be carried out at Pirbright, at the RVC and in India. The project will take advantage of recent developments in plant-based expression technologies at John Innes (JIC) (P3), to generate low-cost reagents for BTV serotyping. This will create links between plant and animal science in the UK and in India. Development of next generation serological assays will take place at JIC and Pirbright, for evaluation at Pirbright and in India.

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