Summary
At the end of August 2002, clinical symptoms of bluetongue (BT) (fever between 39°C and 41°C, muco-purulent or bloody nasal discharge, oedema of the lips and the intramandibular space, foot lesions including laminitis and coronitis in some cases, diarrhoea and dysentery) were recorded in Pramenka sheep flocks in north-east Bosnia in August 2002. A total of 9 599 serum samples (ovine: 8 967; bovine: 632) from 40 communities of Bosnia and Herzegovina were tested for the presence of anti-bluetongue virus (BTV) antibodies using competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (c-ELISA) and the standard agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) test. The c-ELISA revealed BTV-seropositive reactions in 187 (1.94%) samples and the AGID test detected 141 (1.53%) cases. Complete agreement was recorded between the c-ELISA and AGID test results for bovine sera. These results indicate that the ability of c-ELISA to detect anti-bluetongue virus antibodies in ovine sera was superior to that of the AGID. All positive sera were collected from animals in the river areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Keywords
Agar gel immunodiffusion test, Bluetongue, Bosnia, Culicoides, Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, Herzegovina.