Detection of Usutu virus in a bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) and a great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) in north-west Europe

Garigliany, Mutien-Marie; Marlier, Didier; Tenner-Rácz, Klara; Eiden, Martin; Cassart, Dominique; Gandar, Fréderic; Beer, Martin; Schmidt‐Chanasit, Jonas; Desmecht, Daniël

doi:10.1016/j.tvjl.2013.10.017

Cited by 38 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Nevertheless, USUV was able to invade many other European countries, including Hungary (Bakonyi et al, ), Switzerland (Steinmetz et al, ), Italy (Manarolla et al, ), Spain (Bakonyi, Busquets, & Nowotny, ; Busquets, Alba, Allepuz, Aranda, & Ignacio Nunez, ), Germany (Jost et al, ), Greece (Chaintoutis et al, ), the Czech Republic (Hubalek et al, ), Belgium (Garigliany et al, ; Garigliany et al, ), France (Lecollinet et al, ), the Netherlands (Rijks et al, ) and Croatia (Vilibic‐Cavlek et al, ). Furthermore, in the UK (Buckley et al, ) and Poland (Hubalek et al, ) serological indications for the presence of USUV were found.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Different dynamics of Usutu virus infections in Austria and Hungary, 2017–2018

Weidinger

Kolodziejek

Bakonyi

et al. 2019

Transbound Emerg Dis

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Usutu virus (USUV), a mosquito‐borne flavivirus closely related to West Nile virus, emerged in Austria in 2001, when it caused a considerable mass‐mortality of Eurasian blackbirds. Cases in birds increased until 2003 and quickly declined thereafter, presumably due to developing herd immunity. Since 2006, no further cases were recorded, until two blackbirds were tested positive in 2016. In Hungary, USUV first appeared in 2005 and has caused only sporadic infections since then. Initially, the only genetic USUV lineage found across both countries was Europe 1. This changed in 2015/2016, when Europe 2 emerged, which has since then become the prevalent lineage. Due to dispersal of these strains and introduction of new genetic lineages, USUV infections are now widespread across Europe. In 2009, the first cases of USUV‐related encephalitis were described in humans, and the virus has been frequently detected in blood donations since 2016. To monitor USUV infections among the Austrian wild bird population in 2017/2018, 86 samples were investigated by RT‐PCR. In 67 of them, USUV nucleic acid was detected (17 in 2017, 50 in 2018). The majority of succumbed birds were blackbirds, found in Vienna and Lower Austria. However, the virus also spread westwards to Upper Austria and southwards to Styria and Carinthia. In Hungary, 253 wild birds were examined, but only six of them were infected with USUV (five in 2017, one in 2018). Thus, in contrast to the considerable increase in USUV‐associated bird mortality in Austria, the number of infections in Hungary declined after a peak in 2016. Except for one case of USUV lineage Africa 3 in Austria in 2017, Europe 2 remains the most prevalent genetic lineage in both countries. Since USUV transmission largely depends on temperature, which affects vector populations, climate change may cause more frequent USUV outbreaks in the future.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Different dynamics of Usutu virus infections in Austria and Hungary, 2017–2018

Weidinger

Kolodziejek

Bakonyi

et al. 2019

Transbound Emerg Dis

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“…The virus was first discovered in South Africa in 1959 and since then it has been identified in a number of African countries [10]. After the initial outbreak in Austria, USUV activity has been detected in birds from Spain, Italy, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, United Kingdom, Poland, Croatia, Germany and Belgium [11], [12]. In some southern European countries USUV co-circulates with WNV [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Usutu and West Nile virus transmission potential by local Culex pipiens mosquitoes in north-western Europe

et al. 2015

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Originating from Africa, Usutu virus (USUV) first emerged in Europe in 2001. This mosquito-borne flavivirus caused high mortality rates in its bird reservoirs, which strongly resembled the introduction of West Nile virus (WNV) in 1999 in the United States. Mosquitoes infected with USUV incidentally transmit the virus to other vertebrates, including humans, which can result in neuroinvasive disease. USUV and WNV co-circulate in parts of southern Europe, but the distribution of USUV extends into central and northwestern Europe. In the field, both viruses have been detected in the northern house mosquito Culex pipiens, of which the potential for USUV transmission is unknown. To understand the transmission dynamics and assess the potential spread of USUV, we determined the vector competence of C. pipiens for USUV and compared it with the well characterized WNV. We show for the first time that northwestern European mosquitoes are highly effective vectors for USUV, with infection rates of 11% at 18 °C and 53% at 23 °C, which are comparable with values obtained for WNV. Interestingly, at a high temperature of 28 °C, mosquitoes became more effectively infected with USUV (90%) than with WNV (58%), which could be attributed to barriers in the mosquito midgut. Small RNA deep sequencing of infected mosquitoes showed for both viruses a strong bias for 21-nucleotide small interfering (si)RNAs, which map across the entire viral genome both on the sense and antisense strand. No evidence for viral PIWI-associated RNA (piRNA) was found, suggesting that the siRNA pathway is the major small RNA pathway that targets USUV and WNV infection in C. pipiens mosquitoes.

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“…USUV seropositivity has been recently reported in coots in the Czech Republic (Strakova et al., ). In view of the recent emergence of USUV in the Netherlands (Rijks et al., ) and its presence in neighbouring countries like Germany (Cadar et al., , ; Jost et al., ) and Belgium (Garigliany et al., ), it is interesting to note that the neutralizing antibody titres against USUV were generally low and that titres exhibited against WNV were higher. This could indicate that the majority of the samples were either not induced by USUV, WNV infections were more recent, or immune responses to USUV in coots are less robust and long‐lasting compared to WNV.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In North America, after its first detection in New York in 1999, WNV rapidly spread across the continent in approximately 5 years' time, causing outbreaks amongst humans and horses, as well as being responsible for WN morbidity and mortality in up to 326 species of birds (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ), of which the American crow ( Corvus brachyrynchos ) was considered to be the most affected. USUV has mostly been associated with die‐offs amongst common blackbirds ( Turdus migratorius ) in countries such as Austria, Germany and Belgium (Ashraf et al., ; Becker et al., ; Cadar et al., , ; Garigliany et al., ; Weissenbock et al., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Serologic evidence of West Nile virus and Usutu virus infections in Eurasian coots in the Netherlands

Lim

Geervliet

Verhagen

et al. 2017

Zoonoses and Public Health

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SummaryWest Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV) are arboviruses that are maintained in enzootic transmission cycles between mosquitoes and birds and are occasionally transmitted to mammals. As arboviruses are currently expanding their geographic range and emerging in often unpredictable locations, surveillance is considered an important element of preparedness. To determine whether sera collected from resident and migratory birds in the Netherlands as part of avian influenza surveillance would also represent an effective source for proactive arbovirus surveillance, a random selection of such sera was screened for WNV antibodies using a commercial ELISA. In addition, sera of jackdaws and carrion crows captured for previous experimental infection studies were added to the selection. Of the 265 screened serum samples, 27 were found to be WNV-antibody-positive, and subsequent cross-neutralization experiments using WNV and USUV confirmed that five serum samples were positive for only WNVneutralizing antibodies and seven for only USUV. The positive birds consisted of four Eurasian coots (Fulica atra) and one carrion crow (Corvus corone) for WNV, of which the latter may suggest local presence of the virus, and only Eurasian coots for USUV. As a result, the screening of a small selection of serum samples originally collected for avian influenza surveillance demonstrated a seroprevalence of 1.6% for WNV and 2.8% for USUV, suggesting that this sustained infrastructure could serve as a useful source for future surveillance of arboviruses such as WNV and USUV in the Netherlands. K E Y W O R D Sreservoir hosts, surveillance, Usutu virus, vector-borne diseases, West Nile virus, wild birds

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Detection of Usutu virus in a bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) and a great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) in north-west Europe

Cited by 38 publications

References 10 publications

Different dynamics of Usutu virus infections in Austria and Hungary, 2017–2018

Different dynamics of Usutu virus infections in Austria and Hungary, 2017–2018

Comparative Usutu and West Nile virus transmission potential by local Culex pipiens mosquitoes in north-western Europe

Serologic evidence of West Nile virus and Usutu virus infections in Eurasian coots in the Netherlands

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