The capability to cross the placental barrier is a well-known feature of some lab adapted, including vaccines, strains of Bluetongue virus.
We tested the innocuity of the live attenuated vaccine strain used in Japan to control the virulent EHDV-2 Ibaraki virus.
The vaccine has been shown to be immunogenic in vaccinees and it did not pass the placental barrier. Viremia in dams was absent and calves did show neither viral RNA nor infectious virus in the blood samples.
The recent Ibaraki outbreak in Japan (2013) was not related to the spread of the vaccine strain in the environment.