West Nile virus season in Europe

Phipps, Paul; Johnson, Nicholas; McElhinney, Lorraine M.; Roberts, H. E.

doi:10.1136/vr.k3497

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Moreover, WNV continues to emerge in parts of Eastern Europe 151 with severe neurological disease and fatalities caused by a different genetic lineage, termed lineage 2 WNV 152 . In 2018, an unusually high number of infections in horses and people were reported in southern parts of Europe 153 . Although sequence determinants responsible for greater virulence in birds have been identified (for example, a T249P amino acid substitution in NS3 (ref.…”

Section: Established Threatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The continued threat of emerging flaviviruses

Pierson

Diamond²

2020

Nat Microbiol

730

627

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F laviviruses are single-stranded RNA viruses vectored principally by arthropods that cause severe illnesses in humans. The extensive global spread and epidemic transmission of flaviviruses during the last seven decades has been remarkable. The mosquito-borne dengue viruses (DENV) infect an estimated 400 million humans each year; more than a quarter of the world's population lives in areas where DENV is now endemic 1 . By comparison, only sporadic DENV epidemics were documented before the Second World War 2 . The introductions of West Nile (WNV) and Zika (ZIKV) viruses into the Western Hemisphere was followed by rapid geographical spread, large numbers of human infections and considerable morbidity 3,4 . Ongoing yellow fever virus (YFV) transmission and its encroachment on urban environments, despite the existence of an effective vaccine, poses a serious public health challenge 5-7 . Other flaviviruses present ongoing health risks or are beginning to emerge in different parts of the world, including Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) and Usutu virus (USUV).The epidemic potential of flaviviruses reflects many factors related to the unique characteristics of their insect vectors, the consequences of poorly planned urbanization that creates ideal arthropod breeding habitats, the geographical expansion of vectors, changing environmental conditions and extensive global travel 8,9 . Beyond arthropods and humans, flaviviruses are also known to infect a wide array of animal species and can be important veterinary pathogens that threaten economically important domesticated animals 10-14 . These vertebrate animal hosts may constitute important stable reservoirs and contribute to defining conditions that support the introduction of new viral species and transmission among humans 15 . The continued threat of flavivirus emergence and re-emergence highlights a need for a detailed fundamental understanding of the biology of these viruses, the immune responses that can contain them and the possible countermeasures that can blunt their impact on public health should new outbreaks occur. Flavivirus structure and replicationFlaviviruses are small (~50 nm) spherical virus particles that incorporate a single genomic RNA of positive-sense polarity encoding three structural and seven non-structural proteins (Fig. 1a). Our knowledge of the biology of flaviviruses has advanced considerably with the availability of high-resolution structures of viral structural proteins and of virions at different stages of the replication cycle or in complex with antibodies or host factors 16 . Crystal structures of the enzymatic non-structural proteins also have been solved, accelerating advances in an understanding of virus replication and pathogenesis [17][18][19] and enabling structure-guided drug discovery, as reviewed elsewhere 20 .Virion structure and morphogenesis. Flaviviruses are assembled using three viral structural proteins (C, prM and E), a host lipid envelope and the viral genomic RNA. The structure of ...

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Section: Established Threatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The continued threat of emerging flaviviruses

Pierson

Diamond²

2020

Nat Microbiol

730

627

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“…The large proportion of participants who identified numerous exotic diseases suggests that horse owners are able to determine which diseases are not currently present in the UK. Participants' ability to identify these diseases as exotic might be influenced by recent media coverage of the risk of AHS in the UK, in addition to current outbreaks of WNV and EIA in Europe (Roberts, 2017;Sansom et al, 2018). One limitation of this assessment is that the names of the diseases were provided in a list rather than allowing participants to name an exotic disease in an open-ended question.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A cross-sectional study of horse owners’ awareness and perceived risk of exotic diseases in the United Kingdom

Spence

Slater

Rosanowski

et al. 2019

Preventive Veterinary Medicine

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“…Insgesamt gab es 2017 in Europa 204 Fälle von West Nile Infektionen beim Menschen, von denen 23 tödlich verliefen. Bei den Equiden wurden 127 Fälle registriert (Phipps et al 2018). Im Jahr 2018 wurden in der EU 2083 Fälle von West Nile Infektionen beim Menschen dokumentiert was.…”

Section: Epidemiologieunclassified

West Nile Virus infection in the horse – an overview

Stöckle¹,

Winter²,

Gehlen³

2019

PHK

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Zusammenfassung: Das Arbovirus West Nile Virus (WNV) kann tödlich verlaufende Encephalitiden bei Mensch und Pferd auslösen. Menschen und Pferde sind sogenannte "Dead-end hosts", die von Moskitos infiziert werden. Hauptwirte des WNV sind Vögel. Beim Pferd verläuft eine Infektion mit WNV häufig klinisch inapparent, wohingegen ca. 8 % der Pferde klinische Symptome entwickeln. Diese sind zunächst unspezifisch und werden im Verlauf typisch für eine Polioenzephalomyelitis. Eine rein klinische Diagnose der bei Vogel und Pferd anzeigepflichtigen Tierseuche ist nicht möglich. Es kann entweder ein Nachweis des Virusgenoms oder ein Nachweis von spezifischen Antikörpern erfolgen, welcher vom Nationalen Referenzlabor bestätigt werden muss. Im Jahr 2017 wurden in Europa insgesamt 127 Fälle von WNV bei Pferden registriert, im Jahr 2018 lag die Zahl der berichteten Fälle bereits bei 285. Der erste Fall bei einem Pferd in Deutschland wurde im September 2018 bestätigt. In bereits betroffenen Gebieten wie beispielsweise Berlin-Brandenburg, Sachsen-Anhalt und Sachsen wird daher die Impfung gegen WNV empfohlen. Schlüsselwörter: West Nile-Virus, anzeigepflichtige Tierseuchen, Arboviren West Nile Virus infection in the horse -an overviewThe arbovirus West Nile Virus (WNV) can cause fatal encephalitis in horses and humans. WNV belongs to the family Flaviviridae and the genus Flavivirus. It was first described in 1937 in the West Nile district in Uganda. The diameter of the single strand, enveloped RNA virus with a nucleocapside is approximately 50 nm. Horses and humans are so-called "dead-end hosts" that are infected by mosquitos but cannot infect mosquitos in return. The most important vector is Culex pipiens. The main host of WNV are birds, which transmit the virus to the mosquito, while it feeds on them. Birds like sparrows can have a high titer, but show no clinical signs. Others like raptors and corvidae become diseased and might die. Many infected horses do not develop any clinical signs, whereas approximately 8 % develop neurological disease. At the beginning, clinical signs are rather nonspecific and include depression, anorexia, and fever. The developing neurological signs are typical for a polioencephalomyelitis. These include ataxia with stumbling, staggering, and a wobbly gait. Horses can also show circling, weakness of the hindlimbs, paralysis of one or more limbs, muscle fasciculations, proprioceptive deficits blindness, pendant lip or paralysis of the lip, and teeth grinding. These signs can progress to recumbency or to acute death. A dysfunction of the autonomous nervous system can lead to respiratory arrest and to disturbances in the gastrointestinal system. There is no specific therapy of WNV infection so far. Antiviral medications do not have a reliable effect. Recommendations include the administration of flunixin-meglumine (1.1 mg/kg IV BID), tranquilizers (acepromazin: 0.02 mg/kg IV or 0.05 mg/kg IM) to relieve fear as well as sedatives (detomidine: 0.02-0.04 mg/kg IV) for prolonged quieting. In the recumbent horse...

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West Nile virus season in Europe

Cited by 4 publications

References 5 publications

The continued threat of emerging flaviviruses

The continued threat of emerging flaviviruses

A cross-sectional study of horse owners’ awareness and perceived risk of exotic diseases in the United Kingdom

West Nile Virus infection in the horse – an overview

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