Annually recurrent epidemic polyarthritis and Ross River virus activity in a coastal area of New South Wales: II. Mosquitoes, viruses, and wildlife *

Gard, G. P.; Marshall, I. D.; Woodroofe, Gwendolyn M

doi:10.4269/ajtmh.1973.22.551

Cited by 67 publications

(43 citation statements)

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“…Indeed, there is only limited information on the genetic variability of RRV (Sammels et al, 1995), with only two RRV genomes sequenced and available (strains NB5092 and T48; Faragher et al, 1988). Whilst both strains were recovered from mosquitoes and adapted to grow in the brains of suckling mice (Faragher et al, 1988), the pedigree of the NB5092 strain is uncertain (Gard et al, 1973). Herein, we both provide novel genome sequences of RRV recovered from multiple host species (birds, marsupials and a human) and estimate the evolutionary and epidemiological dynamics of gene sequences from 61 isolates of RRV, incorporating time-structured data.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular evolutionary dynamics of Ross River virus and implications for vaccine efficacy

Jones

Lowry

Aaskov

et al. 2009

Journal of General Virology

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Ross River virus (RRV) is a mosquito-borne member of the genus Alphavirus that causes epidemic polyarthritis in humans, costing the Australian health system at least US$10 million annually. Recent progress in RRV vaccine development requires accurate assessment of RRV genetic diversity and evolution, particularly as they may affect the utility of future vaccination. In this study, we provide novel RRV genome sequences and investigate the evolutionary dynamics of RRV from timestructured E2 gene datasets. Our analysis indicates that, although RRV evolves at a similar rate to other alphaviruses (mean evolutionary rate of approx. 8¾10"4 nucleotide substitutions per site year "1 ), the relative genetic diversity of RRV has been continuously low through time, possibly as a result of purifying selection imposed by replication in a wide range of natural host and vector species. Together, these findings suggest that vaccination against RRV is unlikely to result in the rapid antigenic evolution that could compromise the future efficacy of current RRV vaccines. INTRODUCTIONRoss River virus (RRV) is an alphavirus that infects a wide range of vertebrate hosts, including marsupials, equids, rodents, birds and fruit bats, and has multiple mosquito vectors, including several Aedes species (reviewed by Russell, 2002). Of the natural hosts, only humans and horses are known to develop symptoms (Doherty et al., 1963(Doherty et al., , 1972Azuolas et al., 2003). The disease in humans is known as epidemic polyarthritis (EPA) (Shope & Anderson, 1960) and is characterized by polyarthralgia in the small joints, principally of the hands and feet, as well as fever, rash and a range of other non-specific signs and symptoms. Patients may be incapacitated for several weeks after infection, but symptoms diminish in severity in the ensuing 30-40 weeks, leading to a full recovery. Up to approximately 7800 cases are reported annually from Australia (Australian Department of Health and Ageing, 2009) and an epidemic of RRV infection in the Pacific in 1979 and 1980 resulted in tens of thousands of clinical infections (Aaskov et al., 1981;Rosen et al., 1981; Tesh et al., 1981). Importantly, the Pacific epidemic of 1979-1980 suggests strongly that RRV is not dependent on purely sylvatic transmission cycles, and that urban transmission cycles are both possible and expected.Recently, there has been considerable interest in developing a vaccine against RRV infection (Yu & Aaskov, 1994;Aaskov et al., 1997;Kistner et al., 2007) as there is no cure for EPA, because RRV infections appear to confer lifelong immunity against a second clinical infection (Fraser, 1986) and because EPA has been estimated to cost the Australian health system more than US$10 million annually in direct medical costs (Aaskov et al., 1998), with millions more spent on mosquito control. Effective vaccination, whether by live-attenuated virus or inactivated virus, such as the formaldehyde-inactivated virus vaccine currently in development (Kistner et al., 2007), requires that circulat...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular evolutionary dynamics of Ross River virus and implications for vaccine efficacy

Jones

Lowry

Aaskov

et al. 2009

Journal of General Virology

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“…3,[8][9][10] Serological surveys and virus isolation from mosquitoes trapped near a flying fox camp suggested flying foxes might be reservoir hosts. 8,11,12 However, Ryan and others concluded that the gray-headed flying-fox, Pteropus poliocephalus, was not an important reservoir host because only 10 of 510 (2%) Aedes vigilax that fed on infected flying-foxes were infected with RR virus after an extrinsic incubation period, and because RR virus could not be detected in any of 122 bloodfed Ae. vigilax immediately after feeding on infected P. poliocephalus.…”

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confidence: 99%

Mosquito isolates of Ross River virus from Cairns, Queensland, Australia.

Harley¹,

Ritchie²,

Phillips³

et al. 2000

The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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Abstract. During 1996-1998 60,619 mosquitoes were collected around Cairns, Australia and processed for Alphavirus isolation. Thirty-three isolates of Ross River (RR) virus were made from 9 species, Aedes imprimens, Aedes kochi, Aedes notoscriptus, Aedes vigilax, Culex annulirostris, Culex gelidus, Mansonia septempunctata, Verrallina (formerly Aedes) carmenti, and Verrallina lineatus. Attempts to isolate RR virus from 121 Aedes aegypti were unsuccessful. Twenty-six (79%) of the isolates came from within 1 km of a colony of spectacled flying-foxes, Pteropus conspicillatus. The minimum infection rate for these mosquitoes was 1.0 compared with 0.2 per 1,000 for mosquitoes trapped at all other sites. Ross River virus has not previously been isolated from Ae. imprimens, Cx. gelidus, Ma. septempunctata, Ve. carmenti, or Ve. lineatus. This is also the first isolation of an arbovirus from Cx. gelidus in Australia. In conclusion, the vector status of Ve. carmenti, Ae. aegypti and Ma. septempunctata warrants further study. This study also provides evidence that P. conspicillatus may be a reservoir host.

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“…An endemic focus of RRV clearly exists around Port Stephens, north of Newcastle (Clarke et al, 1973;Gard et al, 1973). Strains of RRV isolated from mosquitoes trapped in this area are antigenically distinct from strains recovered in North Oueensland (Woodroofe, Marshall and Taylor, 1977).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ross River Virus Activity Along the South Coast of New South Wales

Cloonan

Vale

et al. 1982

Aust J Exp Biol Med

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Summary. The sera of 468 blood donors and 63 domestic animals, collected from the south coast of New South Wales, were tested for the presence of antibodies to Ross River virus. Antibodies were detected in 7% of human sera, 25% of cow sera and 65% of horse sera. Using the blood donors as 'human sentinels', seroconversions were demonstrated in two donors from the NowraKiama region and from a patient in the same area; none of the three had been outside of the study area during the period of seroconversion or at the time of infection. Ofthe 15 seropositive horses, 6 (40%) had lived continuously since birth on the farms on which they were bled. That humans and horses were infected with Ross River and not a related alphavirus was shown by microneutralization tests against Ross River virus and the other two alphaviruses (Getah, Sindbis) known to occur in Australia.

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Annually recurrent epidemic polyarthritis and Ross River virus activity in a coastal area of New South Wales: II. Mosquitoes, viruses, and wildlife *

Cited by 67 publications

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Molecular evolutionary dynamics of Ross River virus and implications for vaccine efficacy

Molecular evolutionary dynamics of Ross River virus and implications for vaccine efficacy

Mosquito isolates of Ross River virus from Cairns, Queensland, Australia.

Ross River Virus Activity Along the South Coast of New South Wales

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