West Nile Virus Infection in Crocodiles

West Nile Virus in Alligator, Alligator mississippiensis, Ranches from Louisiana

“…West Nile virus (WNV) has been reported to affect vari ous crocodilian species including the American alligator, Alligator mississippiensis, (Miller, et al, 2003), the Nile crocodile, Crocodylus niloticus, (Steinman, et al, 2003), and the Morelet's crocodile, Crocodylus moreletii, (Rubio, 2004). The role o f crocodilians and other reptiles in the epidemiology o f WNV infection is largely unknown.…”

West Nile virus: A re-emerging pathogen revisited

“…Apart from mammals, several reptiles and amphibians, such as snakes, crocodiles, alligators, iguanas and frogs [123][124][125][126] have been also described as susceptible to WNV infection and some of them raise high viremia, but the real contribution of animals other than birds and mosquitoes in maintaining WNV cycle in nature is still uncertain.…”

Neutralising antibodies for West Nile virus in horses from Brazilian Pantanal

“…Recent studies have demonstrated that some crocodilian species may be infected by WNV (Steinman et al 2003, Jacobson et al 2005 and that Alligator mississippiensis may also have a viremic load that affords the infection of blood-feeding Culicidae vectors, which suggests that in areas with high population densities of these alligators, juvenile individuals could play an important role in WNV transmission (Klenk et al 2004). Taking these data into account, the unsuccessful efforts to detect WNV circulation in the avian hosts in Brazil and the widespread, high prevalence of the Crocodilia species, Caiman crocodilus yacare, in the Brazilian Pantanal (Campos et al 2005), our strategy was to investigate the WNV circulation in the potential vectors, dead-end hosts and natural secondary amplifying hosts through the collection and testing of mosquitoes and serum samples of horses and wild caimans from the Nhecolândia sub-region.…”