Novel serotype of bluetongue virus in South America and first report of epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus in Ecuador

Bluetongue virus (BTV) and Epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV) are closely related Orbiviruses that affect domestic and wild ruminants. In Ecuador previous serological studies reported the presence of BTV; however, no data are available about the presence of EHDV. In this study, 295 cattle without symptoms of infection were sampled from two farms located in Andean and Amazonian regions and from a slaughterhouse in the coastal region. ELISA analyses showed high prevalence of BTV (98.9%) and EHDV (81.3%) antibodies, and RT-qPCRs revealed the presence of EHDV (24.1%) and BTV (10.2%) genomes in cattle blood samples. Viral isolation allowed to identify EHDV serotype 1 (EHDV1) and BTV serotypes 9 (BTV9), 13 and 18. These findings suggest that BTV and EHDV are enzootic diseases in Ecuador.