The Schmallenberg virus
In a matter of months, a new virus has succeeded in infecting a large majority of ruminants in Europe. While not particularly worrying in adult animals, the clinical signs in foetuses infected during gestation are, however, alarming: abortion, hydrocephalus, muscular atrophy. A team from the University of Liège’s Pathology Laboratory is closely monitoring this new epidemic.
A new hybrid virus
Researchers at the Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI), the main federal German research organisation for animal health, were therefore quick to begin looking for the causes of this epidemic. Since the traditional analyses didn’t provide any results, the scientists launched a metagenomic study. “This consists of randomly amplifying all the pieces of RNA and DNA contained in the samples taken from animals affected by the disease and then sequencing them all”, explains Mutien-Marie Garigliany. By amplifying all the genetic material in this way, the researchers came across many things of little interest, such as pieces of the genome of the sick animals or genetic material belonging to traditional pathogens found in ruminants. “But they also spotted an Orthobunyavirus-like viral genome similar to the Shamonda virus and they wondered whether this was the source of the problem”, the researcher from Liège points out. On the basis of the first sequences obtained, the FLI team created an initial PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and realised that all the samples from the animals showing clinical signs contained genetic material from this virus!