@article{
author = "Milićević, Vesna and Zurovac Sapundžić, Zorana and Glišić, Dimitrije and Kureljušić, Branislav and Vasković, Nikola and Đorđević, Milutin and Mirčeta, Jovan",
year = "2024",
abstract = "The role of wildlife in maintaining infectious diseases in veterinary medicine is often neglected, although the
disease eradication process in domestic animals is continuously affected by the risk of pathogens transmission
from wildlife as a primary source. The main aim of this paper was to estimate the prevalence and distribution of
selected infectious diseases in wild ruminants in Serbia. In total, 259 sera from wild ruminants were tested for
specific antibodies to bluetongue virus, Schmallenberg virus, Bovine viral diarrhea/border disease virus, Capripox
virus, West Nile fever virus, Bovine herpes virus-1, Coxiella burnetii, Brucella spp., and Leptospira spp.
Specific Capripox virus and Leptospira spp. antibodies were not detected in any of the 259 wild ruminant
samples. Although one animal was detected positive for BVDV/BDV specific antibodies, with 99.8% confidence,
the prevalence of BVD within this population could be very low i.e. essentially free from BVD infection. One and
three positive animals were detected for Brucella spp. and Coxiella burnetii antibodies, respectively. Bovine herpes
virus-1 specific antibodies were detected in 20.85% of the samples. The estimated seroprevalence of vector-borne
diseases was 20.5% for Schmallenberg disease, 34.3% for West Nile fever, and 38.6% for Bluetongue.
Considering the reported results, wildlife health status is a result of different factors in complex relation, such
as the presence of disease in domestic animals, disease nature, pathogen characteristics, environmental factors,
presence, and vector competence. Wildlife should be considered not only as a risk but as a source of important
information on disease distribution and its indicators.",
publisher = "Elsevier",
journal = "Research in Veterinary Science",
title = "Cross-sectional serosurvey of selected infectious diseases in wild ruminants in Serbia",
volume = "170",
pages = "105183",
doi = "10.1016/j.rvsc.2024.105183"
}
