Technical Abstract: Molecular biology of bluetongue and related viruses has provided the foundation for the development early warning technologies for indigenous and exotic disease outbreaks. The phylogenetic analysis of two-conserved target genes, one that is highly expressed in infected mammalian cells the other highly expressed in infected insect cells, from BTV prototype strains indicated that a complex primer design will be necessary for a comprehensive gene amplification diagnostic test. Status of the application of real-time RT/PCR and other existing and developing technologies for early warning of an exotic BTV outbreak was discussed.