In November 2016, sheep located in the south of Corsica island exhibited clinical signs suggestive of bluetongue virus (BTV) infection. Laboratory analyses allowed to isolate and identify a BTV strain of serotype 4. The analysis of the full viral genome showed that all the 10 genomic segments were closely related to those of the BTV-4 present in Hungary in 2014 and involved in a large BT outbreak in the Balkan Peninsula. These results together with epidemiological data suggest that BTV-4 has been introduced to Corsica from Italy (Sardinia) where BTV-4 outbreaks have been reported in autumn 2016. This is the first report of the introduction in Corsica of a BTV strain previously spreading in eastern Europe.
Keywords: bluetongue; diagnosis; emergence; serotype 4.
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