Detection and Characterization of Alongshan Virus in Ticks and Tick Saliva from Lower Saxony, Germany with Serological Evidence for Viral Transmission to Game and Domestic Animals

Abstract

The newly discovered group of Jingmenviruses has been shown to infect a wide range of hosts and has been associated with febrile illness in humans. During a survey for Jingmenviruses in ticks from Lower Saxony, Germany, Alongshan virus (ALSV) was identified in Ixodes spp. ticks. Additional virus screenings revealed the presence of ALSV in the bodies and saliva of ticks collected at several locations in Lower Saxony. Vector competence studies that included Ixodes ricinus and Dermacentor reticulatus validated the replication of ALSV within those tick species. In vitro feeding experiments with ALSV-injected Ixodes ricinus demonstrated effective viral transmission during blood feeding. To evaluate the potential viral transmission during a natural blood meal, sera from wild game and domestic animals were investigated. One serum sample from a red deer was found to be positive for ALSV RNA, while serological screenings in game and domestic animals revealed the presence of ALSV-specific antibodies at different locations in Lower Saxony. Overall, those results demonstrate the broad distribution of ALSV in ticks in Lower Saxony and hypothesize frequent exposure to animals based on serological investigations. Hence, its potential risk to human and animal health requires further investigation.

The segmented flavivirus Alongshan virus reduces mitochondrial mass via degrading STAT2 to suppress innate immune response

“…Alongshan virus (ALSV), a segmented flavivirus in the Flaviviridae family, was identified in patients who had experienced tick bites in Northeastern China (Wang et al, 2019a; Wang et al, 2019b). Subsequent researches have revealed the widespread presence of ALSV in various regions, including Russia, Finland, Switzerland, and Germany (Ebert et al, 2023; Kholodilov et al, 2021; Kholodilov et al, 2020; Kuivanen et al, 2019; Stegmüller et al, 2023). ALSV infection leads to a condition known as Alongshan fever, characterized by common clinical symptoms such as fever, headache, skin rash, myalgia, arthralgia, depression, and coma (Wang et al, 2019a; Wang et al, 2019b; Zhang et al, 2020).…”

First detection of Jingmen tick virus in Corsica, France and development of a real time detection system for multiple tick-associated jingmenviruses

“…Two tick-associated jingmenviruses have been found in Europe: JMTV and Alongshan virus (ALSV). JMTV has been detected in humans from Kosovo, in eld-collected ticks from Türkiye and Romania, and in an Aedes albopictus mosquito laboratory colony in Italy, while ALSV was found in ticks from Finland, France, Germany and Switzerland 3,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] . Concurrently, these are the only two jingmenviruses which have been found in humans: JMTV and ALSV-derived RNA and antibodies were detected patients with tick bites and febrile illness in China and Kosovo 5,9,17 .…”

Molecular characterization of Amblyomma geoemydae using CO1 mitochondrial gene to validate phenotypic taxonomical evaluation

“…Ixodidae can feed on mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians (Rodriguez et al 2023 ). Ticks locate their hosts by smelling animal breath and body scents or detecting body heat, moisture, and vibrations (Ebert et al 2023 ). Some species can even identify a shadow (Ortiz-Baez et al 2023 ).…”

“…During the blood meal uptake, the microbial content is transferred from one body to another, and there are two types of microbial transmission in ticks (Grandi et al 2023 ) before being transmitted to vertebrates, diseases acquired by larval ticks must first be transstadially transmitted to the nymph stage (Ravindran et al 2023 ). The vertical transmission of parasites from an infected vector to its descendants is known as transgenerational transmission (Ebert et al 2023 ; Parola and Raoult 2001 ; Ravindran et al 2023 ; Reis et al 2011 ). The transstadially and transovarially transmitting ticks are analyzed through mitochondrial genes.…”