West Nile Virus Epidemic in Germany Triggered by Epizootic Emergence, 2019

Ziegler, Ute; Santos, Pauline Dianne; Groschup, Martin H.; Hattendorf, Carolin; Eiden, Martin; Höper, Dirk W.; Eisermann, Philip; Keller, Markus; Michel, Friederike; Klopfleisch, Robert; Müller, Kerstin; Werner, Doreen; Kampen, Helge; Beer, Martin; Frank, Christina; Lachmann, Raskit; Tews, Birke Andrea; Wylezich, Claudia; Rinder, Monika; Lachmann, Lars; Grünewald, Thomas; Szentiks, Claudia A.; Sieg, Michael; Schmidt‐Chanasit, Jonas; Cadar, Dániel; Lühken, Renke

doi:10.3390/v12040448

Cited by 96 publications

(157 citation statements)

References 39 publications

(59 reference statements)

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“…Therefore, it deemed only a matter of time until WNV would emerge also in Germany. Eventually, an incursion of WNV was confirmed in 2018 with virus isolation from two horses and 12 captive or wild birds, such as great grey owls ( Strix nebulosa ), northern goshawks ( Accipiter gentilis ), and blackbirds ( Turdus merula ) [ 41 , 55 ]. In the year 2019, an already much larger number of birds ( n = 76), horses ( n = 36), and even mosquito pools ( Cx.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pathogenicity of West Nile Virus Lineage 1 to German Poultry

et al. 2020

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West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito-borne virus that originates from Africa and at present causes neurological disease in birds, horses, and humans all around the globe. As West Nile fever is an important zoonosis, the role of free-ranging domestic poultry as a source of infection for humans should be evaluated. This study examined the pathogenicity of an Italian WNV lineage 1 strain for domestic poultry (chickens, ducks, and geese) held in Germany. All three species were subcutaneously injected with WNV, and the most susceptible species was also inoculated via mosquito bite. All species developed various degrees of viremia, viral shedding (oropharyngeal and cloacal), virus accumulation, and pathomorphological lesions. Geese were most susceptible, displaying the highest viremia levels. The tested waterfowl, geese, and especially ducks proved to be ideal sentinel species for WNV due to their high antibody levels and relatively low blood viral loads. None of the three poultry species can function as a reservoir/amplifying host for WNV, as their viremia levels most likely do not suffice to infect feeding mosquitoes. Due to the recent appearance of WNV in Germany, future pathogenicity studies should also include local virus strains.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the year 2019, an already much larger number of birds ( n = 76), horses ( n = 36), and even mosquito pools ( Cx. pipiens , n = 7), as well as humans ( n = 5) were tested positive for WNV [ 55 , 56 ]. These cases were locally confined to the east of Germany, where warm weather conditions prevailed [ 41 , 55 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pathogenicity of West Nile Virus Lineage 1 to German Poultry

et al. 2020

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“…This procedure ensures that the resulting sequencing data reflect the original sample composition in the best way [2]. This generic HTS approach is a powerful tool and led to the detection of novel viruses in many cases [19][20][21][22], although the initial presence of the virus can be low in some cases [19,22,23]. Indeed, samples with very low pathogen (virus) content represent a typical diagnostic setting.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The results for those samples show that the VirBaits workflow can be updated very rapidly and easily for viruses causing newly emerging health threats. In addition, we investigated several samples related to the WNV epidemic in Germany [23,28] including two horse samples. Horses are dead-end hosts for WNV and horse samples show generally lower virus titers in contrast to samples of bird being reservoir hosts for WNV infection.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Next-generation diagnostics: virus capture facilitates a sensitive viral diagnosis for epizootic and zoonotic pathogens including SARS-CoV-2

Wylezich

Calvelage

Schlottau

et al. 2020

Preprint

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AbstractBackgroundThe detection of pathogens in clinical and environmental samples using high-throughput sequencing (HTS) is often hampered by large amounts of background information, which is especially true for viruses with small genomes. Enormous sequencing depth can be necessary to compile sufficient information for identification of a certain pathogen. Generic HTS combining with in-solution capture enrichment can markedly increase the sensitivity for virus detection in complex diagnostic samples.MethodsA virus panel based on the principle of biotinylated RNA-baits was developed for specific capture enrichment of epizootic and zoonotic viruses (VirBaits). The VirBaits set was supplemented by a SARS-CoV-2 predesigned bait set for testing recent SARS-CoV-2 positive samples. Libraries generated from complex samples were sequenced via generic HTS and afterwards enriched with the VirBaits set. For validation, an internal proficiency test for emerging epizootic and zoonotic viruses (African swine fever virus, Ebolavirus, Marburgvirus, Nipah henipavirus, Rift Valley fever virus) was conducted.ResultsThe VirBaits set consists of 177,471 RNA-baits (80-mer) based on about 18,800 complete viral genomes targeting 35 epizootic and zoonotic viruses. In all tested samples, viruses with both DNA and RNA genomes were clearly enriched ranging from about 10-fold to 10,000-fold for viruses including distantly related viruses with at least 72% overall identity to viruses represented in the bait set. Viruses showing a lower overall identity (38% and 46%) to them were not enriched but could nonetheless be detected based on capturing conserved genome regions. The internal proficiency test supports the improved virus detection using the combination of HTS plus targeted enrichment but also point to the risk of carryover between samples.ConclusionsThe VirBaits approach showed a high diagnostic performance, also for distantly related viruses. The bait set is modular and expandable according to the favored diagnostics, health sector or research question. The risk of carryover needs to be taken into consideration. The application of the RNA-baits principle turned out to be user-friendly, and even non-experts (without sophisticated bioinformatics skills) can easily use the VirBait workflow. The rapid extension of the established VirBaits set adapted to actual outbreak events is possible without any problems as shown for SARS-CoV-2.

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“…Outbreaks of West Nile virus (WNV) 4 , 5 or chikungunya virus 6 highlight the relevance of mosquito-borne diseases in Southern Europe. Furthermore, the ongoing Usutu virus circulation 7 – 10 as well as the recent outbreaks of WNV 11 underpin the increasing risk of mosquito-borne diseases also in Central Europe.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geometric morphometric wing analysis represents a robust tool to identify female mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in Germany

Sauer

Jaworski

Erdbeer

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Accurate species identification is the prerequisite to assess the relevance of mosquito specimens, but is often hindered by missing or damaged morphological features. The present study analyses the applicability of wing geometric morphometrics as a low-cost and practical alternative to identify native mosquitoes in Germany. Wing pictures were collected for 502 female mosquitoes of five genera and 19 species from 80 sampling sites. The reliable species identification based on interspecific wing geometry of 18 landmarks per specimen was tested. Leave-one-out cross validation revealed an overall accuracy of 99% for the genus and 90% for the species identification. Misidentifications were mainly due to three pairings of Aedes species: Aedes annulipes vs. Aedes cantans, Aedes cinereus vs. Aedes rossicus and Aedes communis vs. Aedes punctor. Cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene region was sequenced to validate the morphological and morphometric identification. Similar to the results of the morphometric analysis, the same problematic three Aedes-pairs clustered, but most other species could be well separated. Overall, our study underpins that morphometric wing analysis is a robust tool for reliable mosquito identification, which reach the accuracy of COI barcoding.

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West Nile Virus Epidemic in Germany Triggered by Epizootic Emergence, 2019

Cited by 96 publications

References 39 publications

Pathogenicity of West Nile Virus Lineage 1 to German Poultry

Pathogenicity of West Nile Virus Lineage 1 to German Poultry

Next-generation diagnostics: virus capture facilitates a sensitive viral diagnosis for epizootic and zoonotic pathogens including SARS-CoV-2

Geometric morphometric wing analysis represents a robust tool to identify female mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in Germany

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