Natural Bluetongue virus infection in alpacas in South Africa

Bluetongue virus (BTV) was sporadically isolated over a four year period (2010-2014) from several alpaca carcasses that were presented for necropsy at the Western Cape Provincial Veterinary Laboratory, South Africa. Typically, the a ected animals had a history of acute dyspnoea and progressive weakness before death. Consistent hydrothorax and severe lung oedema in all lead to a preliminary diagnosis of Bluetongue, despite the absence of ulceration and hyperaemia of the oral mucosa which is characteristic of this viral infection in sheep. The diagnosis was con rmed by virus isolation in embryonated eggs and subsequent sequencing of the extracted RNA. Assembled sequences were subjected to Blast analysis and two of the isolates could be veri ed as BTV 3. These cases, originating from the Western Cape Province of South Africa, represents the rst o cial report of BTV infection in alpacas in Africa and demonstrates the susceptibility of the species to this disease when maintained in BTV endemic areas.