7
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Usutu Virus Isolated from Rodents in Senegal

      research-article

      Read this article at

      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Usutu virus (USUV) is a Culex-associated mosquito-borne flavivirus of the Flaviviridae family. Since its discovery in 1959, the virus has been isolated from birds, arthropods and humans in Europe and Africa. An increasing number of Usutu virus infections in humans with neurological presentations have been reported. Recently, the virus has been detected in bats and horses, which deviates from the currently proposed enzootic cycle of USUV involving several different avian and mosquito species. Despite this increasing number of viral detections in different mammalian hosts, the existence of a non-avian reservoir remains unresolved. In Kedougou, a tropical region in the southeast corner of Senegal, Usutu virus was detected, isolated and sequenced from five asymptomatic small mammals: Two different rodent species and a single species of shrew. Additional molecular characterization and in vivo growth dynamics showed that these rodents/shrew-derived viruses are closely related to the reference strain (accession number: AF013412) and are as pathogenic as other characterized strains associated with neurological invasions in human. This is the first evidence of Usutu virus isolation from rodents or shrews. Our findings emphasize the need to consider a closer monitoring of terrestrial small mammals in future active surveillance, public health, and epidemiological efforts in response to USUV in both Africa and Europe.

          Related collections

          Most cited references57

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          Phylogeny of the genus Flavivirus.

          We undertook a comprehensive phylogenetic study to establish the genetic relationship among the viruses of the genus Flavivirus and to compare the classification based on molecular phylogeny with the existing serologic method. By using a combination of quantitative definitions (bootstrap support level and the pairwise nucleotide sequence identity), the viruses could be classified into clusters, clades, and species. Our phylogenetic study revealed for the first time that from the putative ancestor two branches, non-vector and vector-borne virus clusters, evolved and from the latter cluster emerged tick-borne and mosquito-borne virus clusters. Provided that the theory of arthropod association being an acquired trait was correct, pairwise nucleotide sequence identity among these three clusters provided supporting data for a possibility that the non-vector cluster evolved first, followed by the separation of tick-borne and mosquito-borne virus clusters in that order. Clades established in our study correlated significantly with existing antigenic complexes. We also resolved many of the past taxonomic problems by establishing phylogenetic relationships of the antigenically unclassified viruses with the well-established viruses and by identifying synonymous viruses.
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: not found

            Population biology of multihost pathogens.

            The majority of pathogens, including many of medical and veterinary importance, can infect more than one species of host. Population biology has yet to explain why perceived evolutionary advantages of pathogen specialization are, in practice, outweighed by those of generalization. Factors that predispose pathogens to generalism include high levels of genetic diversity and abundant opportunities for cross-species transmission, and the taxonomic distributions of generalists and specialists appear to reflect these factors. Generalism also has consequences for the evolution of virulence and for pathogen epidemiology, making both much less predictable. The evolutionary advantages and disadvantages of generalism are so finely balanced that even closely related pathogens can have very different host range sizes.
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: found
              • Article: found
              Is Open Access

              Emergence of Usutu virus, an African Mosquito-Borne Flavivirus of the Japanese Encephalitis Virus Group, Central Europe

              During late summer 2001 in Austria, a series of deaths in several species of birds occurred, similar to the beginning of the West Nile virus (WNV) epidemic in the United States. We necropsied the dead birds and examined them by various methods; pathologic and immunohistologic investigations suggested a WNV infection. Subsequently, the virus was isolated, identified, partially sequenced, and subjected to phylogenetic analysis. The isolates exhibited 97% identity to Usutu virus (USUV), a mosquito-borne Flavivirus of the Japanese encephalitis virus group; USUV has never previously been observed outside Africa nor associated with fatal disease in animals or humans. If established in central Europe, this virus may have considerable effects on avian populations; whether USUV has the potential to cause severe human disease is unknown.
                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Journal
                Viruses
                Viruses
                viruses
                Viruses
                MDPI
                1999-4915
                21 February 2019
                February 2019
                : 11
                : 2
                : 181
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Arboviruses and Hemorrhagic Fever Viruses Unit, Virology Department, Institut Pasteur de Dakar, BP220 Dakar, Senegal; Marie.NDIONE@ 123456pasteur.sn (M.H.D.N.); gamou.fall@ 123456pasteur.sn (G.F.); ousmane.faye@ 123456pasteur.sn (O.F.); Amadou.SALL@ 123456pasteur.sn (A.A.S.)
                [2 ]Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Science et Technics, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar (UCAD), BP 5005 Fann, Dakar, Senegal; mbacke.sembene@ 123456ucad.edu.sn
                [3 ]Laboratory of Molecular Evolution and Bioinformatics, Department of Microbiology, Biomedical Sciences Institute, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo 05508-000, SP, Brazil; nicholasdipaola@ 123456gmail.com (N.D.P.); pzanotto@ 123456usp.br (P.M.d.A.Z.)
                [4 ]Center for Genome Sciences, United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), Fort Detrick, Frederick, MD 21702, USA
                [5 ]Ecole Inter-Etats des Sciences et Médecine Vétérinaires de Dakar, BP5077 Dakar, Senegal; pouwedeouandre@ 123456gmail.com
                [6 ]BIOPASS (IRD-CBGP, ISRA, UCAD), Campus de Bel-Air, BP 1386, CP 18524 Dakar, Senegal
                Author notes
                [* ]Correspondence: MoussaMoise.DIAGNE@ 123456pasteur.sn ; Tel.: +221-77-405-99-28
                [†]

                These authors contributed equally to this work.

                Author information
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7704-4074
                Article
                viruses-11-00181
                10.3390/v11020181
                6409855
                30795524
                bcb04813-32d2-4ff5-a7c4-4a629bb1b19c
                © 2019 by the authors.

                Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

                History
                : 13 January 2019
                : 21 January 2019
                Categories
                Article

                Microbiology & Virology
                usutu virus,arbovirus,senegal,rodents,in vivo experiment
                Microbiology & Virology
                usutu virus, arbovirus, senegal, rodents, in vivo experiment

                Comments

                Comment on this article