Evidence of exposure of laughing doves (<i>Spilopelia senegalensis</i>) to West Nile and Usutu viruses in southern Tunisian oases

Ayadi, Tasnim; Hammouda, Abdessalem; Poux, A.; Boulinier, Thierry; Lecollinet, Sylvie; Selmi, Slaheddine

doi:10.1017/s0950268817001789

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Since competent mosquitoes are also abundant within Tunisian oases (Wasfi et al, ), transmission of WNV and USUV might be promoted. In previous studies, we have reported serologic evidence of WNV and USUV circulation in the resident avifauna in these areas (Ayadi et al, ; Hammouda et al, ). However, the potential role played by migratory birds in the ecology of these viruses in Tunisian oases is still poorly known, and two hypotheses could be proposed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…Likewise, USUV has been responsible for several infection cases in birds and humans in different African and European areas (Gaibani & Rossini, ; Lelli et al, ). In Tunisia, WNV circulation has been recorded since the 1960s (Hammami et al, ), while USUV circulation has only been reported recently in horses (Ben Hassine et al, ) and laughing doves (Ayadi et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Serological tools allow assessment of whether a bird has been in contact with the viruses during its lifetime through the detection of specific antibodies (Nemeth et al, ). They do not give information on when and how the infection occurred, but they can be useful in investigating the ecological factors shaping bird exposure to viruses (Ayadi et al, ; Figuerola et al, ; Hammouda et al, ; Nallar et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Flaviviruses in migratory passerines during spring stopover in a desert oasis

Ayadi

Hammouda

Beck

et al. 2019

Zoonoses and Public Health

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Bird migration has long been hypothesized as the main mechanism for long‐distance dispersal of flaviviruses, but the role of migratory birds in flaviviruses spillover is not well documented. In this study, we investigated the eco‐epidemiology of West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV) in trans‐Saharan passerines during their spring stopover in southern Tunisian oases. To do, we combined oral swab analysis and serological tools to assess whether migratory birds could be reaching these stopover sites while infectious or have been previously exposed to viruses. All sampled birds tested negative for oral swab analysis. However, anti‐WNV and anti‐USUV antibodies were detected in 32% and 1% of tested birds, respectively. Among WNV‐seropositive species, the Golden oriole (Oriolus oriolus) showed the highest anti‐WNV occurrence probability. In this species, anti‐WNV occurrence was twice larger in males than females. Inter‐specific and intraspecific morphological, physiological and behavioural differences could explain these results. Although our findings did not show evidence for passerines migrating while infectious, they did not exclude an existing enzootic WNV transmission cycle in Tunisian oases. Further investigations including larger samples of migratory birds are needed for a better understanding of this issue.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Flaviviruses in migratory passerines during spring stopover in a desert oasis

Ayadi

Hammouda

Beck

et al. 2019

Zoonoses and Public Health

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“…We also showed that a horse was serologically positive for WNV or USUV. Birds play an important role in introducing WNV (Rappole & Hubalek, 2003) and USUV (Ayadi et al., 2017). Therefore, monitoring migratory/resident birds is a tool to detect any attempts of virus entry.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Serological evidence of West Nile virus infection among birds and horses in some geographical locations of Iran

Bakhshi

Beck

Lecollinet

et al. 2020

Veterinary Medicine & Sci

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Recent expansion of arboviruses such as West Nile (WNV), Usutu (USUV), and tick‐borne encephalitis (TBEV) over their natural range of distribution needs strengthening their surveillance. As common viral vertebrate hosts, birds and horses deserve special attention with routine serological surveillance. Here, we estimated the seroprevalence of WNV, USUV and TBEV in 160 migrating/resident birds and 60 horses sampled in Mazandaran, Golestan, North Khorasan, Kordestan provinces and Golestan province of Iran respectively. ELISA results showed that of 220 collected samples, 32 samples (14.54%), including 22 birds and 10 horses, were positive. Microsphere immunoassay results showed that 16.7% (10/60) of horse blood samples collected in Golestan province were seropositive against WNV (7; 11.7%), Flavivirus (2; 3.3%) and seropositive for USUV or WNV (1; 1.7%). Furthermore, micro virus neutralization tests revealed that four of seven ELISA‐positive bird blood samples were seropositive against WNV: two Egyptian vultures, and one long‐legged buzzard collected in Golestan province as well as a golden eagle collected in North Khorasan province. No evidence of seropositivity with TBEV was observed in collected samples. We showed that WNV, responsible for neuroinvasive infection in vertebrates, is circulating among birds and horses in Iran, recommending a sustained surveillance of viral infections in animals, and anticipating future infections in humans.

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“…61 In 2001, USUV was detected for the first time out of Africa in dead birds from Austria; 62 however, retrospective analysis of preserved tissue paraffin blocks from Italian wild birds found dead in 1996 resulted in the amplification of USUV RNA, thus indicating that the virus was already circulating in Europe at that time.…”

Section: Hosts Birdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Usutu virus: current knowledge and future perspectives

Saiz¹,

Blázquez²

2017

VAAT

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Abstract:The Flavivirus genus (Flaviviridae family) contains important pathogens such as yellow fever virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, St Louis encephalitis virus, West Nile virus, Usutu virus (USUV), Zika virus, and dengue virus, many of which constitute a worrisome threat to global human and animal health. USUV is transmitted by mosquitoes and, as any other flavivirus, is an enveloped plus-strand RNA virus. The virus was first isolated from Culex neavei mosquitoes in South Africa in 1959 near the Usutu River, from where it takes its name. Since then, the virus was confined to Africa until its first detection in Austria in 2001, although it was probably present in Europe since 1996 or even earlier. After that, USUV has spread throughout Europe, causing a considerable mortality among birds and a few neurologic cases in humans. The main USUV natural hosts are birds, but infection has also been reported in other vertebrate species, including humans. The fast spread of the virus through the continent, the relatively high mortality caused in birds, and the recent neuroinvasive human cases related to USUV infection reported in Europe have raised serious concerns about its possible consequences for public health. Here, an updated review of current knowledge about this emerging pathogen is presented. Keywords: Usutu virus, flavivirus, host cell-virus interactions, surveillance, prophylaxis Biology of the virus Molecular classification and phylogenyUsutu virus (USUV) is a member of the Flavivirus genus within the Flaviviridae family ( Figure 1A). In 2004, the complete genomic sequences of two USUV strains, one African (South Africa-1959) and one European (Vienna-2001), were used to build a phylogenetic tree. These two strains showed a 97% and 99% homology at the nucleotide (nt) and amino acid (aa) level, respectively.1 Both strains were closely related to Murray valley encephalitis virus (73% and 82% nt and aa similarity), Japanese encephalitis virus (71% and 81% nt and aa similarity), and to West Nile virus (WNV; 68% and 75% nt and aa similarity). Nowadays, dozens of complete sequences are available in the data banks. In a recent study, the sequence identity among seven USUV strains was 96%-99% and 99% at the nt and aa levels, respectively.2 The only exception was a 1969 isolate from Central African Republic (CAR-1969) that presented homologies of 81% and 94% at the nt and aa levels with other African sequences ( Figure 1B). Due to these differences, it has been suggested that CAR-1969 formed an USUV subtype strain.3 A comparison with the original South African SAAR-1776 strain showed that the mutations found among different European and African strains were scattered throughout the genome, with some unique substitutions and some that were present

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Evidence of exposure of laughing doves (Spilopelia senegalensis) to West Nile and Usutu viruses in southern Tunisian oases

Cited by 13 publications

References 42 publications

Flaviviruses in migratory passerines during spring stopover in a desert oasis

Flaviviruses in migratory passerines during spring stopover in a desert oasis

Serological evidence of West Nile virus infection among birds and horses in some geographical locations of Iran

Usutu virus: current knowledge and future perspectives

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