4d.Progress report.
This report serves to document research conducted under a specific cooperative agreement between ARS and The University of Georgia. Additional details can be found in the report for the parent project 1940-32000-046-00D "Pathogenesis and Genomics of Vesicular Stomatitis Viruses and Foot and Mouth Disease". This project is in collaboration with the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, Department of Population Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia in Athens. The purpose of this collaborative research is to gain a better understanding of the ecology and epidemiology of vesicular stomatitis New Jersey virus in natural transmission cycles and to investigate the pathogenesis of vesicular stomatitis viruses in livestock transmitted through insect bite.

During the last three months we have collected and pooled over 3,500 sand flies from Ossabaw Island, GA. This site is the only known area in the United States where this virus is endemic. We are starting virus isolations from these samples this week. RNA will be extracted from each sample and tested by the ARS real-time RT-PCR for VSV in order to validate the use of this test during surveillance in insects. In addition any VSV positive sample will be subject to genomic sequencing and compared to sequences of previous VSV isolates from the same endemic focus. The information generated through this project will be valuable in understanding the endemic cycle of VSV in Ossabaw Island and its potential risk to US livestock. Plans are in place to carry out pathogenesis experiments in cattle experimentally infected with VSV by insect bite.

This research falls within the component 1: Biodefense Research of the NP-103 National Program.