, 2005). An understanding of Culicoides survival under the conditions imposed by transportation in standardized freight containers ( Reiter, 2010) has not been quantified, nor are there any assessments of the

frequency of such incursion events. Shipment of Culicoides eggs via the tire refurbishment trade, as has been demonstrated in mosquitoes ( Eads, 1972), appears unlikely as the eggs of all Culicoides species examined to date are highly susceptible to desiccation ( Mellor et al., 2000). An alternative route of arbovirus entry could involve the legal or illegal movement of viraemic exotic animals through the pet trade and zoological collections. The potential for the vast majority of arboviruses to replicate to transmissible levels in such hosts has not been investigated CCI779 and accurate tracing of exotic pet trade imports is notoriously Selleckchem Venetoclax difficult even for legal shipments (Blundell

and Mascia, 2005). In the case of OROV, risk of introduction associated with this route is unknown due to the current uncertainty regarding potential reservoir hosts and the current status of Brazil as a major center of wildlife collection (Magalhaes and Sao-Pedro, 2012). Globally, domestic and wild dogs have also been infected with BTV through use of live virus vaccines containing contaminated fetal calf serum (Akita et al., 1994) and also with African horse sickness virus via the ingestion of contaminated meat (Alexander et al., 1995). The potential for onwards transmission of arbovirus in these cases has not

been investigated in either studies of viraemia or association with Culicoides, but sustained circulation by this route is thought to be unlikely ( Alexander et Leukocyte receptor tyrosine kinase al., 1995). The wider question of how to screen biological medicinal products used in both human and veterinary roles, together with the cell substrates used for their manufacture could become a major future consideration given increased globalization of trade ( Marcus-Sekura et al., 2011 and Paty, 2013). The global movement of viraemic humans could also be envisaged as presenting a theoretical risk for introduction of OROV or novel human-to-human Culicoides-transmitted arboviruses. Cases of mosquito-transmitted arbovirus infection in both tourists and returning overseas workers are commonly recorded in Europe ( Eisenhut et al., 1999, Harvala et al., 2009 and Jelinek et al., 2002), but rarely lead to further transmission, as only restricted areas of human habitation support large vector populations. It is clear, however, that even individuals demonstrating the non-specific clinical symptoms of OROV infection would be highly unlikely to be detected during transit or at borders. Phylogenetic studies have demonstrated that the origin of the BTV-8 strain was sub-Saharan Africa (Maan et al.