Detection of West Nile virus lineage 2 in the urine of acute human infections

Abstract

West Nile virus (WNV) lineage 2 emerged in Greece in 2010 and since then outbreaks in humans have been reported for four consecutive years. Laboratory diagnosis is based mainly on serology. A real-time RT-PCR was applied on urine samples obtained from 35 patients with acute WNV infection. WNV RNA was detected in 40% of the samples with cycle threshold (CT) values ranging from 26.95 to 39.89 (mean 33.11). WNV was isolated from two of four urine samples with low CT (<30). Viral load was not associated with patients' age, sex, day of illness, presence of WNV antibodies, and neurological symptoms. However, it seems that sample shipment and storage conditions are very important for virus detection and isolation. The usefulness of the WNV RNA detection in urine as a diagnostic tool of acute WNV infections is discussed.

Advantage of urine based molecular diagnosis of Zika virus

“…Diagnosis of other viral infections in urine and saliva samples has been reported for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Hepatitis A, B, and C, and rubella [14][15][16][17][18][19][20], and more recently in other flaviviruses, West-Nile virus (WNV) [21][22][23] and Dengue (DENV) serotypes -1, -2, -3, and -4 [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. WNV can be detected longer in urine than serum [21] and can be isolated from urine [22,23].…”

“…WNV can be detected longer in urine than serum [21] and can be isolated from urine [22,23]. Some studies also suggest that like WNV, DENV can be detected for a longer time in urine than saliva or serum [25,29,31,32].…”

Urine as Sample Type for Molecular Diagnosis of Natural Yellow Fever Virus Infections

“…International guidelines indicate whole blood and serum as specimens of choice for reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) detection with a typical detection window of 1 to 7 days after the onset of symptoms (6,7). Increasing amounts of evidence point at other bodily fluids such as saliva, semen, or urine as complementary or alternative sample types for some flaviviruses (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16). Although the additional value of urine as a diagnostic sample type for detection of YFV RNA has been demonstrated for vaccinees with suspected adverse events upon vaccination, no data have been reported yet on the detection of YFV in urine from naturally infected cases (17).…”

A nyugat-nílusi vírus kimutatása humán betegmintákból: nyomon követéses vizsgálatok a 2015. évi szezonális időszakban

“…A legkisebb valószínűséggel liquormintákból, míg legnagyobb eséllyel vizeletmintából volt detektálható a vírus. A kapott eredmények korrelálnak laboratóriumunk 2014ben kísérleti jelleggel végzett vizsgálati eredményeivel, illetve más, külföldi munkacsoportok által publikált megfigyelésekkel is [3,[13][14][15][16]. A nyomon követés során tapasztaltak szerint a vizelettel való vírusürítés elhúzódó lehet, azonban a vírusürítés hossza és a betegség lefolyása, súlyossága közti összefüggés nem egyértelmű.…”