Equine influenza outbreak in Eastern of Algeria in 2021: The first introduction of Florida Clade 1 to Maghreb area.

We have performed an equine influenza (EI) serological study of the equine population in Algeria by testing 298 serum samples collected between February and August 2021 from 5 provinces. The results were obtained performing an NP-ELISA. Our results revealed that 49.3% (147/298) samples positive for antibodies to EI (H3N8). During this study and after a gap of one decade an outbreak of EI was reported in Algeria in the first week of March 2021. The disease was confirmed by virus detection from the nasal swabs (n = 39) by qRT-PCR and by identifying 5 EI seroconversion. The virus sequences were identified as H3N8 by sequencing the haemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) genes. Alignment of HA1 amino acid sequence confirmed that viruses belong to Clade 1 of the Florida sublineage in the American lineage. This study indicate the first detection of FC1 strain of EIV in Maghreb area.

Preliminary study of the influence of red blood cells size on the determinism of the breed in cattle.

This study was carried out on five cattle groups, local, cross, Prim'Holstein, Montbeliard, and Brown of the Alps, in order to study the influence of breed on erythrocytes diameter. For each breed, blood samples were taken from 15 adult females by jugular venipuncture; blood smears were made on slides immediately after the blood collection and stained according to the method of May-Gründwald Giemsa. Morphometric study was realized using the OPTIKA Pro Vision software. The statistical analysis was assessed by using the descriptive boxplots test and ANOVA. The size of red blood cells is greater in the imported Brown of the Alps breed (5,32 ± 0,19) and also in our local breed (5,23 ± 0,10), whereas they were smaller in the Montbeliard breed (4,79 ± 0,21). This investigation allowed us to show that from a drop of blood we can have an idea of the bovine breeds, taking into account the size of the erythrocytes.