West Nile Virus and Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus Are Endemic in Equids in Eastern Austria

Viruses

Phebe de Heus¹  Jessika-M. V. Cavalleri¹  Victoria Racher²  Zdenĕk Hubálek³  Jolanta Kolodziejek⁴  Norbert Nowotny⁴  Katharina Dimmel⁴ 

[1] Clinical Unit of Equine Internal Medicine, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria;Department of Mathematics, University of Salzburg, Hellbrunner Straße 34, 5020 Salzburg, Austria;Institute for Vertebrate Biology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Kvĕtná 8, 60365 Brno, Czech Republic;Viral Zoonoses, Emerging and Vector-Borne Infections Group, Institute of Virology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria;

关键词: flavivirus;    West Nile virus;    tick-borne encephalitis virus;    Usutu virus;    seroprevalence;    horses;   

DOI  :  10.3390/v13091873

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The emergence of West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV) in addition to the autochthonous tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) in Europe causes rising concern for public and animal health. The first equine case of West Nile neuroinvasive disease in Austria was diagnosed in 2016. As a consequence, a cross-sectional seroprevalence study was conducted in 2017, including 348 equids from eastern Austria. Serum samples reactive by ELISA for either flavivirus immunoglobulin G or M were further analyzed with the plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT-80) to identify the specific etiologic agent. Neutralizing antibody prevalences excluding vaccinated equids were found to be 5.3% for WNV, 15.5% for TBEV, 0% for USUV, and 1.2% for WNV from autochthonous origin. Additionally, reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was performed to detect WNV nucleic acid in horse sera and was found to be negative in all cases. Risk factor analysis did not identify any factors significantly associated with seropositivity.

【 授权许可】

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