Murray Valley Encephalitis Virus Infection in Mosquitoes and Domestic Fowls in Queensland, 1974

Abstract

Summary Field studies during an epidemic of Murray Valley encephalitis (MVE) led to the isolation of MVE virus from a pool of mosquitoes (Culex annulirostris) and a sentinel chicken from Charleville, south‐west Queensland. A high proportion of domestic fowls at Charleville had antibody to MVE virus at the beginning of February 1974, in advance of the first case recognized in Queensland and allowing early warning from health authorities. A survey of antibody in domestic fowls in mid‐1974 suggested widespread activity of MVE virus in western and east‐central. Queensland. Virus isolation and serological studies showed activity in south‐west Queensland of three other viruses known to infect man, Ross River, Sindbis and Kunjin viruses.

Ord River Arboviruses — Serological Epidemiology

“…The picture that is now emerging from our studies is similar to that obtained by Doherty and his colleagues in Queensland (Doherty, 1972(Doherty, , 1973(Doherty, , 1974Doherty et al, 1968Doherty et al, , 1973aDoherty et al, , 1976. All of Northern Australia could represent one large domain for tropical arbovirus evolution.…”

“…Our current findings with H-I antibody to MVE, Sindbis and Ross River viruses in Caucasian and Aboriginal Australian populations support the initial observations of Choo (1961, 1964). The high rate for MVE of 77% positive in Aboriginal children and 96% in Aboriginal adults is probably the result of infection with more than one Flavivirus if the viruses similar to those found in Queensland (Doherty, 1974) are also found in Western Australia. It will not be possible to assess the relevance of the two Flaviviruses (MVE and Kunjin) commonly being isolated from Culex annulirostris until neutralization tests have been performed on a large number of sera.…”

West Nile Virus Surveillance using Sentinel Birds

“…In South Africa, both chickens and pigeons were used briefly as sentinels 44,45. In Australia, chickens are used as sentinels for Kunjin virus, a subtype of West Nile virus 46,47. In Romania, sentinel chicken surveillance was established briefly in Bucharest subsequent to the outbreak recorded in 1996, with successful results 48.…”

GENETIC ANALYSIS OF KUNJIN VIRUS ISOLATES USING HAEIII AND TAQI RESTRICTION DIGESTS OF SINGLE‐STRANDED cDNA TO VIRION RNA

“…KUN has also been isolated in Sarawak and Thailand. Serological evidence has implicated KUN in the production of mild febrile illness in humans and as the possible cause of some cases of encephalitis accepted clinically as due to MVE (Doherty et al, 1976).…”

“…Subsequently, KUN has been obtained repeatedly from mosquitoes collected in the Murray Valley region of Victoria and N.S.W. (Marshall and Woodroofe, 1975), at Charleville in Queensland (Doherty et al, 1976) and in the Ord Valley of Western Australia (Liehne et al, 1981). KUN has also been isolated in Sarawak and Thailand.…”