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Pestiviruses are responsible for widespread diseases affecting cattle, pigs and other ruminants, presenting a wide range of clinical manifestations, with significant impact on animal production. Given the recent various reports of a relatively high number of new strains and atypical genomic variants, in the present study, ninety-seven genomic sequences from southern Italy have been evaluated applying the palindromic nucleotide substitutions method, based on 5’-UTR secondary structure alignment and computing genetic distance among strains in the internal ribosome entry site. Sequence analysis revealed a highly heterogeneous virus population, indicating the introduction of virus variants of Bovine viral diarrhea virus and Border disease virus species from foreign countries. The application of different analytical procedures was useful to avoid interpretation difficulties. Circulation of heterogeneous virus populations showed the need for more accurate epidemiological investigations and stringent veterinary controls to protect animal health and welfare.

The small hive beetle (Aethina tumida Murray), pest of honeybees, diffused from sub-saharan Africa in different countries, and has become a serious issue for beekeepers. Several methods have been developed to control this pest. Optimization of control measures, and possibly successful eradication measures against this invasive coleopteran will contribute to contain the general problem of the decline of A. mellifera worldwide.