Usutu virus infection in aviary birds during the cold season

Cramer, Kerstin; Böttcher, Denny; Heenemann, Kristin; Rückner, Antje; Harzer, Maxi; Ziegler, Ute; Vahlenkamp, Thomas; Sieg, Michael

doi:10.1080/03079457.2021.1962003

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Repeated introductions of WNV and USUV may occur via infected migratory birds, despite the lack of conclusive evidence [ 31 , 54 ]. Additionally, bird-to-bird transmission in winter has been observed for both USUV [ 55 ] and WNV [ 56 ], and as such, this also remains a potential overwintering mechanism for WNV and USUV. Finally, the role of other vectors and non-avian reservoir hosts (such as mammals) remains mostly unexplored, and additional research might provide new insights in arbovirus overwintering mechanisms.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arbovirus persistence in North-Western Europe: Are mosquitoes the only overwintering pathway?

et al. 2023

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arbovirus persistence in North-Western Europe: Are mosquitoes the only overwintering pathway?

et al. 2023

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“…WNV sequences belonging to lineages 3, 4, 8 and 9 were only sporadically reported and all of them were collected from mosquitos: WNV-3 strains were only found in Czech Republic in 1997 and 2006; WNV-4 in Romania in 2012-13; WNV-8 were only found in Spain in 2006, while WNV-9 genomes were obtained in Austria in 2013 and Hungary in 2011 (Figure 1c,1d and Figure S2). In addition, up to 2021, these lineages 3,4,8 and 9) were only collected from non-human hosts (mainly birds or mosquitos, very few equines), except 9 WNV-1 genomes from humans in Italy between 2009-2013.…”

Section: Diverged Wnv Lineages Found In Europementioning

confidence: 99%

“…WNV belongs to the family Flaviviridae (genus Flavivirus ) with an enveloped, single-stranded RNA genome 3 . The transmission cycle of WNV involves mosquitos (mainly of the Culex species) as vectors and birds as amplifying reservoir hosts 4 , while humans and other mammals are considered dead-end hosts 1 . Dead-end hosts are not thought to contribute significantly to transmission in the natural life cycle of the virus.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

West Nile Virus spread in Europe - phylogeographic pattern analysis and key drivers

Zhang

Munnink

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Spread and emergence of West Nile virus (WNV) in Europe have been very different from those observed in North America. Here, we describe key drivers by combining viral genome sequences with epidemiological data and possible factors of spread into phylodynamic models. WNV in Europe has greater lineage diversity than other regions of the world, suggesting repeated introductions and local amplification. Among the six lineages found in Europe, WNV-2a is predominant, has spread to at least 14 countries and evolved into two major co-circulating clusters (A and B). Both of these seem to originate from regions of Central Europe. Viruses of Cluster A emerged earlier and have spread towards the west of Europe with higher genetic diversity. Amongst multiple drivers, high agriculture activities were associated with both spread direction and velocity. Our study suggests future surveillance activities should be strengthened in Central Europe and Southeast European countries, and enhanced monitoring should be targeted to areas with high agriculture activities.

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“…Although mosquito bites represent the main route of transmission, we cannot exclude that other routes are involved in avian species. Indeed, evidence of infection caused by WNV and USUV has been observed during the vector-free period, which occurs mostly during the winter [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. The ability of a vector-borne virus to pass through the winter, without any competent insect vector to allow its transmission and maintenance is called “overwintering”.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Non-Vector Transmission of Usutu Virus in Domestic Canaries (Serinus canaria)

Blanquer,

Rivas,

Gérardy

et al. 2024

Viruses

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Usutu virus (USUV) is a flavivirus transmitted to avian species through mosquito bites that causes mass mortalities in wild and captive bird populations. However, several cases of positive dead birds have been recorded during the winter, a vector-free period. To explain how USUV “overwinters”, the main hypothesis is bird-to-bird transmission, as shown for the closely related West Nile virus. To address this question, we experimentally challenged canaries with intranasal inoculation of USUV, which led to systemic dissemination of the virus, provided the inoculated dose was sufficient (>102 TCID50). We also highlighted the oronasal excretion of infectious viral particles in infected birds. Next, we co-housed infected birds with naive sentinels, to determine whether onward transmission could be reproduced experimentally. We failed to detect such transmission but demonstrated horizontal transmission by transferring sputum from an infected to a naive canary. In addition, we evaluated the cellular tropism of respiratory mucosa to USUV in vitro using a canary tracheal explant and observed only limited evidence of viral replication. Further research is then needed to assess if and how comparable bird-to-bird transmission occurs in the wild.

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Usutu virus infection in aviary birds during the cold season

Cited by 7 publications

References 46 publications

Arbovirus persistence in North-Western Europe: Are mosquitoes the only overwintering pathway?

Arbovirus persistence in North-Western Europe: Are mosquitoes the only overwintering pathway?

West Nile Virus spread in Europe - phylogeographic pattern analysis and key drivers

Evaluation of Non-Vector Transmission of Usutu Virus in Domestic Canaries (Serinus canaria)

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