Genotyping of bovine viral diarrhea viruses (BVDV) isolated from cattle in Sicily

Bovine Viral Diarrhea–Mucosal Disease (BVD–MD) is a widely spread infectious disease that causes important economic losses in farms. Several epidemiological studies indicate a high genetic heterogeneity among Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV) strains circulating in Italy. The aim of this study was to investigate the genotypes of BVDV in Sicily, a region in the South of Italy. For this purpose, 17 BVDV strains collected from cattle breed in Sicily between 2005 and 2008 were genetically typed by sequencing of the 5′-untraslated region (5′-UTR) of the viral genome. In this study, phylogenetic analysis showed that all 17 examined strains were clustered within the BVDV genotype 1. Particularly, 14 of them were clustered with the BVDV-1b subgroup, while the remaining three strains were clustered with the BVDV-1e. Moreover, the restriction analysis indicated a bovine origin for all of the 17 strains typed in this study. These results could be useful to carry out an epidemiological survey and to create vaccines that protect cattle against BVDV different subgroups.