The seroprevalence of African horse sickness virus, and risk factors to exposure, in domestic dogs in Tshwane, South Africa

Hanekom, Josef; Lubisi, Alison; Leisewitz, Andrew L.; Guthrie, Alan John; Fosgate, Geoffrey T.

doi:10.1016/j.prevetmed.2023.105868

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…African horse sickness virus is transmitted to equids by culicoid midges and can cause severe or even lethal febrile, cardiac and pulmonary diseases [88][89][90]. African horse sickness virus can also infect dogs, notably via the oral route through ingestion of infected horse meat [91][92][93][94], and it appears to infect wild African carnivores widely [95]. Bluetongue virus is also typically transmitted by culicoid midges to diverse vertebrates (primarily ruminants) around the world [92,96].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Viruses of free-roaming and hunting dogs in Uganda show elevated prevalence, richness and abundance across a gradient of contact with wildlife

Tayebwa,

Hyeroba,

Dunn

et al. 2024

Journal of General Virology

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Domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) live with humans, frequently contact other animals and may serve as intermediary hosts for the transmission of viruses. Free-roaming dogs, which account for over 70% of the world’s domestic dog population, may pose a particularly high risk in this regard. We conducted an epidemiological study of dog viromes in three locations in Uganda, representing low, medium and high rates of contact with wildlife, ranging from dogs owned specifically for traditional hunting in a biodiversity and disease ‘hotspot’ to pets in an affluent suburb. We quantified rates of contact between dogs and wildlife through owner interviews and conducted canine veterinary health assessments. We then applied broad-spectrum viral metagenomics to blood plasma samples, from which we identified 46 viruses, 44 of which were previously undescribed, in three viral families, Sedoreoviridae, Parvoviridae and Anelloviridae. All 46 viruses (100 %) occurred in the high-contact population of dogs compared to 63 % and 39 % in the medium- and low-contact populations, respectively. Viral prevalence ranged from 2.1 % to 92.0 % among viruses and was highest, on average, in the high-contact population (22.3 %), followed by the medium-contact (12.3 %) and low-contact (4.8 %) populations. Viral richness (number of viruses per dog) ranged from 0 to 27 and was markedly higher, on average, in the high-contact population (10.2) than in the medium-contact (5.7) or low-contact (2.3) populations. Viral richness was strongly positively correlated with the number of times per year that a dog was fed wildlife and negatively correlated with the body condition score, body temperature and packed cell volume. Viral abundance (cumulative normalized metagenomic read density) varied 124-fold among dogs and was, on average, 4.1-fold higher and 2.4-fold higher in the high-contact population of dogs than in the low-contact or medium-contact populations, respectively. Viral abundance was also strongly positively correlated with the number of times per year that a dog was fed wildlife, negatively correlated with packed cell volume and positively correlated with white blood cell count. These trends were driven by nine viruses in the family Anelloviridae, genus Thetatorquevirus, and by one novel virus in the family Sedoreoviridae, genus Orbivirus. The genus Orbivirus contains zoonotic viruses and viruses that dogs can acquire through ingestion of infected meat. Overall, our findings show that viral prevalence, richness and abundance increased across a gradient of contact between dogs and wildlife and that the health status of the dog modified viral infection. Other ecological, geographic and social factors may also have contributed to these trends. Our finding of a novel orbivirus in dogs with high wildlife contact supports the idea that free-roaming dogs may serve as intermediary hosts for viruses of medical importance to humans and other animals.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Viruses of free-roaming and hunting dogs in Uganda show elevated prevalence, richness and abundance across a gradient of contact with wildlife

Tayebwa,

Hyeroba,

Dunn

et al. 2024

Journal of General Virology

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“…Other known susceptible species include dogs, wild carnivores (hyenas and jackals), elephants, and camels (Zientara et al, 2015;Assefa et al, 2022). Dogs and other carnivorous animals can become infected by consuming the meat of infected animals that died from the disease (Hanekom et al, 2023). However, the role of dogs in the spread of the virus is considered insignificant since they do not attract vectors (Riddin et al, 2019).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

African Horse Sickness Characteristic Features of the Pathogen, Epizootiology, Clinical Signs, Diagnosis, and Monitoring Measures (Review Article)

Chechet,

Kornienko,

Ukhovskyі

et al. 2023

OneHealthJournal

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The paper presents a review of scientific literature about the epizootic situation with the African horse sickness. It gives current information on characteristic features, ways of transmission, and disease processes. The paper outlines the following key avenues of pathogen transmission: by vectors, by wild or domestic host animals transporting, and by sick (infected) animals in the early stages of sickness. The paper gives special attention to clinical signs, course, and pathological changes caused by the disease, and serological and molecular-genetic diagnostic methods. It reviews global experience in the localization and prevention of this disease and gives the reasons for implementing an active system of epidemiological surveillance of horses to find manifestations of the disease which is crucial for transition and spread prevention and early outbreak detection in Ukraine.

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African Horse Sickness Virus

Leonardi-Cattolica

2024

Veterinary Virology of Domestic and Pet Animals

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The seroprevalence of African horse sickness virus, and risk factors to exposure, in domestic dogs in Tshwane, South Africa

Cited by 4 publications

References 37 publications

Viruses of free-roaming and hunting dogs in Uganda show elevated prevalence, richness and abundance across a gradient of contact with wildlife

Viruses of free-roaming and hunting dogs in Uganda show elevated prevalence, richness and abundance across a gradient of contact with wildlife

African Horse Sickness Characteristic Features of the Pathogen, Epizootiology, Clinical Signs, Diagnosis, and Monitoring Measures (Review Article)

African Horse Sickness Virus

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