Clinical and epidemiological investigation of bovine ephemeral fever outbreaks in the Jordan Valley (1999-2001)

摘要

The patterns of bovine ephemeral fever (BEF) spread over cattle herds in the Jordan Valley were similar in 1999, 2000 and 2001. The incidence rates of the disease were 100, 85 and 93.7% in 1999, 2000 and 2001, respectively. Morbidity rates were 38.6,4.6 and 13.6%, and mortality rates were 8.6, 0.3 and 14.8% of affected animals in 1999, 2000 and 2001, respectively. The values of the three parameters are very high compared to those reported in earlier publications. An average of 2.7% of the affected animals experienced a second attack of the disease after 2 to 6 weeks. All the affected cattle were over the age of three months. The vectors are not known for certain but the available evidence indicates that Culicidae and not Culicoides are the naturalvectors of BEF virus.