Schmallenberg virus (SBV) is disease-affecting cattle, sheep and goats, which are more susceptible than other animals, and has spread all the Europe countries since 2011. In the current study was amid to investigate the seroprevalence of Schmallenberg virus antibodies in cattle in Basra and Al_Qadisiyah Provinces in south Iraq from September 2019 to august 2021. In a total 78 serum samples of cattle aged from 2-5 years were analyzed with competitive enzyme – linked immunosorbent assay for Schmalleneberg virus. All the suspected animals suffered from many recurrent non-specific clinical signs such as dropping of milk production 78 (100%), loss of appetite 70 (89.74%), still birth 46 (58.97%), abortion 28 (35.89%) and malformation 4 (5.12%). The results of competitive ELISA technique indicated the 66 (84.6%) of 78 samples were positive for antibodies Schmallenberg virus, the incidence was 87.09% in Basrah while 82.97% in Al_Qadisiyah. The seropositive ELISA results according the clinical signs were 66 (84.61%), 39 (50%), 24 (30.67%), and 3 (3.84%) for decreased milk production, still birth, abortion and malformation respectively. In conclusion this is the first study of detection of SBV Antibodies in cattle from south Iraq. The SBV caused high economic losses due to the decrease cattle milk production, abortion and still birth also threatened the health of cattle therefor veterinarians should find control and prevention program to reduce the morbidity caused by Schmallenberg virus.
Keywords | Dairy cattle, Abortion, ELISA, Schmallenberg Virus, Sero-prevalence