Increase in the occurrence of abortions associated with exposure to the Bluetongue virus serotype 8 in naïve dairy herds

Abstract The transplacental transmission capacity demonstrated for Bluetongue virus serotype 8 (BTV-8) in cattle probably is associated with an increased occurrence of abortions. The objectives of this study were to quantify the effect of BTV-8 exposure on the occurrence of abortions in previously naive dairy cow herds under natural infection conditions, and to determine a possible risk period during pregnancy associated with this increase. Two criteria were considered in order to estimate the occurrence of abortion: late return-to-service after a first artificial insemination (AI), and short gestations. A late return-to-service was defined as a return taking place 90 to 200 days after a first AI. These criteria were compared between cows in herds exposed during the 2007 epizootic in France and cows in herds that were not exposed. To determine the risk period during a pregnancy, variations in the occurrence of abortions were quantified according to the stage of the pregnancy during which the exposure took place. Survival analyses were used to estimate the risk of increased occurrence of abortion associated with BTV-8 exposure, adjusted by the principal factors known to influence the risk of abortion. Exposure to the BTV-8 virus under natural conditions in previously naive dairy herds notified after clinical suspicion during the 2007 epizootic was associated with an increase in the occurrence of abortions, regardless of the stage of pregnancy. The at-risk gestation period depended on the criteria used to detect abortions. The mean effect of BTV-8 exposure in the ensemble of detected outbreaks corresponded to an increase of 6.7% in late return-to-service. BTV-8 exposure during the first 3 mo of gestation was associated with a 15% increase in late return-to-service for cows with no return-to-service at 90 days, while this increase was 6% for exposure starting from the third month of gestation (in outbreaks detected in September). BTV-8 exposure from the third month of gestation was associated with a 1.9% increase of short gestations. The effect of exposure was more pronounced for outbreaks detected early in the epizootic compared with those detected later.