On nanotextured noble-metal surfaces, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is observed, where Raman scattering is enhanced by a factor, G, that is frequently about one million, but underlying the factor G is a broad distribution of local enhancement factors, eta. We have measured this distribution for benzenethiolate molecules on a 330-nanometer silver-coated nanosphere lattice using incident light of wavelength 532 nanometers. A series of laser pulses with increasing electric fields burned away molecules at sites with progressively decreasing electromagnetic enhancement factors. The enhancement distribution P(eta)deta was found to be a power law proportional to (eta)(-1.75), with minimum and maximum values of 2.8 x 10(4) and 4.1 x 10(10), respectively. The hottest sites (eta >10(9)) account for just 63 in 1,000,000 of the total but contribute 24% to the overall SERS intensity.

Porcine circovirus-associated disease (PCVAD) is clinically manifested by postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS), respiratory and enteric disease, reproductive failure, and porcine dermatitis and nephropathy syndrome (PDNS). Porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) is an essential component of PCVAD, although an etiologic role in PDNS is not well established. Here, a novel circovirus, designated porcine circovirus 3 (PCV3), was identified in sows that died acutely with PDNS-like clinical signs. The capsid and replicase proteins of PCV3 are only 37% and 55% identical to PCV2 and bat circoviruses, respectively. Aborted fetuses from sows with PDNS contained high levels of PCV3 (7.57 ϫ 10 7 genome copies/ml), and no other viruses were detected by PCR and metagenomic sequencing. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis of sow tissue samples identified PCV3 antigen in skin, kidney, lung, and lymph node samples localized in typical PDNS lesions, including necrotizing vasculitis, glomerulonephritis, granulomatous lymphadenitis, and bronchointerstitial pneumonia. Further study of archived PDNS tissue samples that were negative for PCV2 by IHC analysis identified 45 of 48 that were PCV3 positive by quantitative PCR (qPCR), with 60% of a subset also testing positive for PCV3 by IHC analysis. Analysis by qPCR of 271 porcine respiratory disease diagnostic submission samples identified 34 PCV3-positive cases (12.5%), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay detection of anti-PCV3 capsid antibodies in serum samples found that 46 (55%) of 83 samples tested were positive. These results suggest that PCV3 commonly circulates within U.S. swine and may play an etiologic role in reproductive failure and PDNS. Because of the high economic impact of PCV2, this novel circovirus warrants further studies to elucidate its significance and role in PCVAD.IMPORTANCE While porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) was first identified in sporadic cases of postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome in Canada in the early 1990s, an epidemic of severe systemic disease due to PCV2 spread worldwide in the ensuing decade. Despite being effectively controlled by commercial vaccines, PCV2 remains one of the most economically significant viruses of swine. Here, a novel porcine circovirus (PCV3) that is distantly related to known circoviruses was identified in sows with porcine dermatitis and nephropathy syndrome (PDNS) and reproductive failure. PCV2, which has previously been associated with these clinical presentations, was not identified. High levels of PCV3 nucleic acid were observed in aborted fetuses by quantitative PCR, and PCV3 antigen was localized in histologic lesions typical of PDNS in sows by immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis. PCV3 was also identi- Citation Palinski R, Piñeyro P, Shang P, Yuan F, Guo R, Fang Y, Byers E, Hause BM. 2017. A novel porcine circovirus distantly related to known circoviruses is associated with porcine dermatitis and nephropathy syndrome and reproductive failure. J Virol 91:e01879-16.

The increasing incidence of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) - mediated hospital infections in China prompted a need to investigate the genetic basis of emergence of such strains. A nationwide survey was conducted in China covering a total of 1105 CRE strains collected from 25 geographical locales with results showing that acquisition of two carbapenemase genes, blaKPC-2 and blaNDM, was responsible for phenotypic resistance in 90% of the CRE strains tested (58% and 32% respectively), among which several major strain types, such as ST11 of K. pneumoniae and ST131/ST167 of E. coli, were identified, suggesting that dissemination of specific resistant clones is mainly responsible for emergence of new CRE strains. Prevalence of the fosA3 gene which mediates fosfomycin resistance, was high, while the colistin resistance determinant mcr-1 was rarely present in these isolates. Consistently, the majority of the blaNDM-bearing plasmids recoverable from the test strains belonged to IncX3, which contained a common core structure, blaNDM-blaMBL-trpF. Likewise, the core structure of ISKpn27-blaKPC-2-ISKpn2 was observed among plasmids harboring the blaKPC-2 gene, although they were genetically more divergent. In conclusion, the increasing prevalence of CRE strains in China is attributed to dissemination of conservative mobile elements carrying blaNDM or blaKPC-2 on conjugative and non-conjugative plasmids.

Despite numerous barriers to transmission, zoonoses are the major cause of emerging infectious diseases in humans. Among these, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and ebolaviruses have killed thousands; the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has killed millions. Zoonoses and human-to-animal cross-species transmission are driven by human actions and have important management, conservation, and public health implications. The current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, which presumably originated from an animal reservoir, has killed more than half a million people around the world and cases continue to rise. In March 2020, New York City was a global epicenter for SARS-CoV-2 infections. During this time, four tigers and three lions at the Bronx Zoo, NY, developed mild, abnormal respiratory signs. We detected SARS-CoV-2 RNA in respiratory secretions and/or feces from all seven animals, live virus in three, and colocalized viral RNA with cellular damage in one. We produced nine whole SARS-CoV-2 genomes from the animals and keepers and identified different SARS-CoV-2 genotypes in the tigers and lions. Epidemiologic and genomic data indicated human-to-tiger transmission. These were the first confirmed cases of natural SARS-CoV-2 animal infections in the United States and the first in nondomestic species in the world. We highlight disease transmission at a nontraditional interface and provide information that contributes to understanding SARS-CoV-2 transmission across species. IMPORTANCE The human-animal-environment interface of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an important aspect of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that requires robust One Health-based investigations. Despite this, few reports describe natural infections in animals or directly link them to human infections using genomic data. In the present study, we describe the first cases of natural SARS-CoV-2 infection in tigers and lions in the United States and provide epidemiological and genetic evidence for human-to-animal transmission of the virus. Our data show that tigers and lions were infected with different genotypes of SARS-CoV-2, indicating two independent transmission events to the animals. Importantly, infected animals shed infectious virus in respiratory secretions and feces. A better understanding of the susceptibility of animal species to SARS-CoV-2 may help to elucidate transmission mechanisms and identify potential reservoirs and sources of infection that are important in both animal and human health.

Culex tarsalis Coquillett females were infected with the NY99 strain of West Nile virus (family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus, WNV) and then incubated under constant temperatures of 10-30 degrees C. At selected time intervals, transmission was attempted using an in vitro capillary tube assay. The median time from imbibing an infectious bloodmeal until infected females transmitted WNV (median extrinsic incubation period, EIP50) was estimated by probit analysis. By regressing the EIP rate (inverse of EIP50) as a function of temperature from 14 to 30 degrees C, the EIP was estimated to require 109 degree-days (DD) and the point of zero virus development (x-intercept) was estimated to be 14.3 degrees C. The resulting degree-day model showed that the NY99 WNV strain responded to temperature differently than a lineage II strain of WNV from South Africa and approximated our previous estimates for St. Louis encephalitis virus (family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus, SLEV). The invading NY99 WNV strain therefore required warm temperatures for efficient transmission. The time for completion of the EIP was estimated monthly from temperatures recorded at Coachella Valley, Los Angeles, and Kern County, California, during the 2004 epidemic year and related to the duration of the Cx. tarsalis gonotrophic cycle and measures of WNV activity. Enzootic WNV activity commenced after temperatures increased, the duration of the EIP decreased, and virus potentially was transmitted in two or less gonotrophic cycles. Temperatures in the United States during the epidemic summers of 2002-2004 indicated that WNV dispersal and resulting epicenters were linked closely to above-average summer temperatures.