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Determination of the role of hard (Ixodid) ticks in the transmission of lumpy skin disease virus in cattle (A683)

 
This is an investigation of the transmission of lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV) between cattle by different life stages of Amblyomma hebraeum, Rhipicephalus appendiculatus and Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) decoloratus ticks. All of these ticks are common in Africa. Laboratory-bred larvae, nymphs and adults will be placed to feed on the skin of the cattle experimentally infected with LSDV. After feeding, the partially engorged adult R. appendiculatus and A. hebraeum males, and larvae hatched from eggs laid by R. (B.) decoloratus females, previously fed on the skin lesions of cattle with LSD, will be transferred to the skin of non-infected recipient animals. Infected A. hebraeum and R. appendiculatus nymphs will be allowed to moult to adults and then transferred to the skin of non-infected cattle. The recipient animals will be monitored for clinical signs of LSD. Samples will be collected at regular intervals to detect viraemia and seroconversion, and live virus in the skin of the previously non-infected animals. The survival mechanisms of the virus during the moulting of the ticks will be studied by investigating in which types of tick cells the virus multiplies, the possible presence of virus in tick salivary glands or the cells of the midgut and eggs. This study will also investigate whether feeding on infected animals during the viraemic stage is sufficient or whether feeding on skin lesions is also required in order for ticks to become infected and transmit the virus to recipient animals, and if ambient temperature has an influence on virogenesis in nymphal stages of ticks.

IAH Principal Investigator: Eeva Tuppurainen

IAH Co-Investigators: Professor Philip Mellor, Dr Chris Oura

Overseas Collaborators:
Professor Estelle Venter, Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria
Professor Koos (J.A.W) Coetzer, Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria
Dr Hein Stoltsz, Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria
Mrs Milana Troskie, Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria

Country involved: South Africa
Duration: 36 months
     

 
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