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Investigation of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus in ruminant species slaughtered in several endemic provinces in Turkey

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Abstract

A total of 1,337 serum and plasma specimens (939, 393 and 15 from cattle, sheep and goats, respectively) were collected monthly for one a year from ruminant species slaughtered in three Turkish cities endemic for Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV), Samsun, Sivas and Tokat. The serum samples were tested by commercial indirect ELISA to detect CCHFV antibodies, and positive or equivocal samples were later confirmed by a virus neutralization test (VNT). The seroprevalence in cattle, sheep, and goats was 36.21% (340/939), 6.27% (24/383), and 6.67% (1/15), respectively. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR was employed to detect viraemic animals at slaughter time. The percentage of CCHFV-viraemic animals was 0.67% (9/1337). The virus load varied between 4.1 x 101 and 2.4 x 103 RNA equivalent copies/mL in viraemic animals. The plasma samples that were positive for CCHFV genomic RNA were collected between April and May, when Hyalomma ticks are active. This study presents quantitative CCHFV load data in ruminant species at slaughter and interprets the likelihood of transmission for employees working in slaughterhouses in CCHFV-endemic regions.

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Funding

This study was partially supported by a grant from the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK, grant number 115 S 074).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Laboratory Animals, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ondokuz Mayis University, Samsun, Turkey

    Emre Ozan

  2. Department of Virology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ankara University, Omer Halisdemir Blv. Diskapi, 06110, Ankara, Turkey

    Aykut Ozkul

  3. Biotechnology Institute, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey

    Aykut Ozkul

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  1. Emre Ozan
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  2. Aykut Ozkul
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Contributions

This study summaries the doctoral dissertation of the first author (EO). The study was supervised and coordinated by professor AO. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aykut Ozkul.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study was conducted with permission from the Local Ethics Committee on Animal Experiments of Samsun Veterinary Control Institute (permission date, 13.06.2013; permission number, 28). In addition, the study was conducted with permission from the Republic of Turkey to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (permission date, 23.05.2013; permission number, 55016929-325.01.53/20361).

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Handling Editor: Tim Skern.

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Ozan, E., Ozkul, A. Investigation of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus in ruminant species slaughtered in several endemic provinces in Turkey. Arch Virol 165, 1759–1767 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-020-04665-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-020-04665-9

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