The role of wildlife in bluetongue virus maintenance in Europe: Lessons learned after the natural infection in Spain

- A complex BTV transmission and maintenance network has emerged in Europe.
- Wild ruminants are regarded as important actors in this epidemiological network.
- We suggest that wildlife reservoirs contribute to BTV circulation in the Mediterranean.
- Research is needed on wildlife-Culicoides and deer-BTV-livestock interactions.
- Actions in wildlife should focus on monitoring.