TY - JOUR
T1 - Co-circulation of Usutu virus and West Nile virus in a reed bed ecosystem
AU - Rudolf, Ivo
AU - Bakonyi, Tamás
AU - Šebesta, Oldřich
AU - Mendel, Jan
AU - Peško, Juraj
AU - Betášová, Lenka
AU - Blažejová, Hana
AU - Venclíková, Kristýna
AU - Straková, Petra
AU - Nowotny, Norbert
AU - Hubálek, Zdenek
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by the EU grant FP7-261504 EDENext. The publication is catalogued by the EDENext Steering Committee as EDENext428. The contents of this paper are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Rudolf et al.
PY - 2015/10/12
Y1 - 2015/10/12
N2 - Background: Mosquito-borne flaviviruses are a major public health threat in many countries worldwide. In Central Europe, West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV), both belonging to the Japanese encephalitis virus group (Flaviviridae) have emerged in the last decennium. Surveillance of mosquito vectors for arboviruses is a sensitive tool to evaluate virus circulation and consequently to estimate the public health risk. Methods: Mosquitoes (Culicidae) were collected at South-Moravian (Czech Republic) fishponds between 2010 and 2014. A total of 61,770 female Culex modestus Ficalbi mosquitoes, pooled to 1,243 samples, were examined for flaviviruses by RT-PCR. Results: One pool proved positive for USUV RNA. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that this Czech USUV strain is closely related to Austrian and other Central European strains of the virus. In addition, nine strains of WNV lineage 2 were detected in Cx. modestus collected in the same reed bed ecosystem. Conclusions: This is the first detection of USUV in Cx. modestus. The results indicate that USUV and WNV may co-circulate in a sylvatic cycle in the same habitat, characterised by the presence of water birds and Cx. modestus mosquitoes, serving as hosts and vectors, respectively, for both viruses.
AB - Background: Mosquito-borne flaviviruses are a major public health threat in many countries worldwide. In Central Europe, West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV), both belonging to the Japanese encephalitis virus group (Flaviviridae) have emerged in the last decennium. Surveillance of mosquito vectors for arboviruses is a sensitive tool to evaluate virus circulation and consequently to estimate the public health risk. Methods: Mosquitoes (Culicidae) were collected at South-Moravian (Czech Republic) fishponds between 2010 and 2014. A total of 61,770 female Culex modestus Ficalbi mosquitoes, pooled to 1,243 samples, were examined for flaviviruses by RT-PCR. Results: One pool proved positive for USUV RNA. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that this Czech USUV strain is closely related to Austrian and other Central European strains of the virus. In addition, nine strains of WNV lineage 2 were detected in Cx. modestus collected in the same reed bed ecosystem. Conclusions: This is the first detection of USUV in Cx. modestus. The results indicate that USUV and WNV may co-circulate in a sylvatic cycle in the same habitat, characterised by the presence of water birds and Cx. modestus mosquitoes, serving as hosts and vectors, respectively, for both viruses.
KW - Arbovirus
KW - Culex modestus
KW - Flavivirus
KW - Mosquitoes
KW - Surveillance
KW - Usutu virus
KW - West Nile virus
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U2 - 10.1186/s13071-015-1139-0
DO - 10.1186/s13071-015-1139-0
M3 - Article
C2 - 26459018
AN - SCOPUS:84943771110
SN - 1756-3305
VL - 8
JO - Parasites and Vectors
JF - Parasites and Vectors
IS - 1
M1 - 520
ER -
