In China in 2010, a disease outbreak in egg-laying ducks was associated with a flavivirus. The virus was isolated and partially sequenced. The isolate exhibited 87%–91% identity with strains of Tembusu virus, a mosquito-borne flavivirus of the Ntaya virus group. These findings demonstrate emergence of Tembusu virus in ducks.

Tembusu virus (TMUV) infection in ducks, geese and house sparrows was reported in China. To confirm the emergence of TMUV in humans, we investigated TMUV as a possible infection in duck industry workers in Shandong, China. Of 132 serum samples tested, 95 (71.9%) had TMUV antibodies. In oral swabs detection, 63 (47.7%) samples were positive for TMUV RNA. Nucleotide sequences of 277 bp coding the partial NS3 protein showed more than 99.5% identity with other duck TMUV strains, which can cause severe egg drop in ducks. These findings contribute to the realization that TMUV may be overlooked as a zoonotic transmission in China.

No abstract