Nairobi Sheep Disease Virus, an Important Tick-Borne Pathogen of Sheep and Goats in Africa, Is Also Present in Asia

Abstract

Nairobi sheep disease (NSD) virus is the prototype of the tick-borne NSD serogroup, genus Nairovirus, family Bunyaviridae. It is highly pathogenic for sheep and goats, causes disease in humans, and is widespread throughout East Africa. Ganjam virus has caused disease in goats and humans in India. Due to their occurrence on different continents and association with different ticks, these viruses were considered distinct despite serologic cross-reactivity. Their S RNA genome segments and encoded nucleocapsid proteins were found to be 1590 nucleotides and 482 amino acids in length and differed by only 10 and 3% at nucleotide and amino acid levels, respectively. Genetic and serologic data demonstrate that Ganjam virus is an Asian variant of NSD virus. These viruses were phylogenetically more closely related to Hazara virus than Dugbe virus.

Rapid Molecular Detection Methods for Arboviruses of Livestock of Importance to Northern Europe

“…In fatal cases, death often occurs in the early stages of a disease. A variant of NSDV, Ganjam virus has been isolated in India [161]. This virus is highly pathogenic in exotic and crossbred sheep and goats causing a disease with high fever, dullness, depression, and loss of appetite [162].…”

Genomic Characterization of Yogue, Kasokero, Issyk-Kul, Keterah, Gossas, and Thiafora Viruses: Nairoviruses Naturally Infecting Bats, Shrews, and Ticks

“…4,5 Together with Ganjam virus, which is considered to be a strain of the same virus, NSDV has a distribution that includes central and east Africa as well as South Asia and China. 6,7 At least 50 other nairoviruses have been isolated from ticks or vertebrate hosts and some have been associated with symptoms of disease in humans including fever, headache, and neurological disorders. 8 Many of these viruses remain poorly characterized.…”

Nairovirus RNA Sequences Expressed by a Semliki Forest Virus Replicon Induce RNA Interference in Tick Cells

“…Among bunyaviruses, the genus Nairovirus comprises 34 tick-borne viruses classified into seven serogroups. The main representatives are the widely distributed human pathogen Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV), which causes severe and often fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans (16), and the Nairobi sheep disease virus, which circulates in Africa and Asia (23) and induces acute and fatal hemorrhagic gastroenteritis in sheep and goats. Although nairovirus infection in vertebrate cells has been documented (for reviews, see references 36 and 38), there are only a few reports concerning nairovirus infection in their tick vector or in tick cells (31).…”