Table 3

Volume 18, Number 11—November 2012

Lack of Evidence for Zoonotic Transmission of Schmallenberg Virus

Chantal Reusken¹

, Cees van den Wijngaard¹, Paul van Beek, Martin Beer, Ruth Bouwstra, Gert-Jan Godeke, Leslie Isken, Hans van den Kerkhof, Wilfrid van Pelt, Wim van der Poel, Johan Reimerink, Peter Schielen, Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit, Piet Vellema, Ankje de Vries, Inge Wouters, and Marion Koopmans

Author affiliations: National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, the Netherlands (C. Reusken, C. van den Wijngaard, P. van Beek, G.-J. Godeke, L. Isken, H. van den Kerkhof, W. van Pelt, J. Reimerink, P. Schielen, A. de Vries, M. Koopmans); Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Insel Riems, Germany (M. Beer); Central Veterinary Institute of Wageningen University and Research Centre, Lelystad, the Netherlands (R. Bouwstra, W. van der Poel); Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg (J. Schmidt-Chanasit); Animal Health Service, Deventer, the Netherlands (P. Vellema); and Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht, the Netherlands (I. Wouters)

Main Article

Main characteristics of study participants* in study to determine whether SBV can be zoonotically transmitted, the Netherlands*

Exposure group, risk factor	Exposed	Participants, no. (%)/additional information
All
Total		301/age 18–88 y; mean 47 y; 25th–75th percentile 36–58 y; 62% male
Exposure to biting insects on SBV-infected farm(s)	Yes	150 (50)
	No	71 (24)
	Unknown	80 (26)
Farmers, total		234
Working and living on SBV-infected farm		191 (82)
Working on SBV-infected farm		26 (11)
Living on SBV-infected farm		15 (6)
Unknown		2 (1)
Exposure to animals
Sheep
Regular contact with lambs and/or birth products on   SBV-infected farm	Yes	110, of whom 88 reported hand (skin) injuries during work
	No	31
Total		141
Goats
Regular contact with kids and/or birth products on   SBV-infected farm	Yes	3, of whom 3 reported regular hand (skin) injuries during work
	No	10
Total		13
Cattle
Regular contact with calves and/or birth products on   SBV-infected farm	Yes	90, of whom 72 reported regular (hand) skin injuries during work
	No	38
Total		128
Veterinarians
Total		67/1–50 SBV-infected farms visited per veterinarian; median 4
Exposure to animals
Sheep
Contact with malformed lambs and/or birth products	Yes†	19, of whom 18 reported regular hand (skin) injuries during work
	No	29
Total		48
Goats
Contact with malformed lambs and/or birth products	Yes†	1 who reported regular hand (skin) injuries during work
	No	29
Total		30
Cattle
Contact with malformed calves and/or birth products	Yes†	33, of whom 28 reported regular hand (skin) injuries during work
	No	20
Total		53
Contact with malformed lambs/calves during section at   Animal Health Service	Yes	11, of whom 6 reported regular hand (skin) injuries during work.

*Overall, 50 (75%) of 67 veterinarians reported contact with malformed lambs/calves and/or birth products of which 40 reported regular hand (skin) injuries during work. Overall, 179 (76%) of 234 farmers, farm residents and farm employees reported regular contact with newborn lambs/calves and/or birth products on SBV-infected farms, of which 140 reported regular hand (skin) injuries during work. SBV, Schmallenburg virus.
†All tested seronegative.

Main Article

¹These authors contributed equally to this article.

Page created: October 16, 2012

Page updated: October 16, 2012

Page reviewed: October 16, 2012

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