The complete sequence of a West Nile virus lineage 2 strain detected in a Hyalomma marginatum marginatum tick collected from a song thrush (Turdus philomelos) in eastern Romania in 2013 revealed closest genetic relationship to strain Volgograd 2007

Jolanta Kolodziejek; Mihai Marinov; Botond J Kiss; Vasile Alexe; Norbert Nowotny

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0109905

The complete sequence of a West Nile virus lineage 2 strain detected in a Hyalomma marginatum marginatum tick collected from a song thrush (Turdus philomelos) in eastern Romania in 2013 revealed closest genetic relationship to strain Volgograd 2007

PLoS One. 2014 Oct 3;9(10):e109905. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0109905. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Jolanta Kolodziejek¹, Mihai Marinov², Botond J Kiss², Vasile Alexe², Norbert Nowotny³

Affiliations

¹ Viral Zoonoses, Emerging and Vector-Borne Infections Group, Institute of Virology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
² Danube Delta National Institute for Research and Development, Tulcea, Romania.
³ Viral Zoonoses, Emerging and Vector-Borne Infections Group, Institute of Virology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.

Abstract

In this study the first complete sequence of the West Nile virus (WNV) lineage 2 strain currently circulating in Romania was determined. The virus was detected in a Hyalomma marginatum marginatum tick collected from a juvenile song thrush (Turdus philomelos) in the Romanian Danube Delta close to the city of Tulcea, end of August 2013. Our finding emphasizes the role of ticks in introduction and maintenance of WNV infections. Sequence analyses revealed close genetic relationship of the Romanian WNV strain to strain Reb_Volgograd_07_H, which was isolated from human brain tissue during an outbreak of West Nile neuroinvasive disease (WNND) in Russia in 2007. In 2010 the Eastern European lineage 2 WNV caused an outbreak of human WNND in Romania. Partial sequences from subsequent years demonstrated that this WNV strain became endemic in Eastern Europe and has been causing outbreaks of varying sizes in southern Russia since 2007 and in Romania since 2010.

Publication types

Comparative Study
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Disease Outbreaks / veterinary
Gene Expression Regulation, Viral*
Genome, Viral
Genotype
Humans
Phylogeny
RNA, Messenger / genetics
RNA, Viral / genetics
Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
Romania / epidemiology
Songbirds / virology*
Tick Infestations / epidemiology
Tick Infestations / veterinary
Tick Infestations / virology*
Ticks / genetics
Ticks / virology*
West Nile Fever / epidemiology
West Nile Fever / veterinary
West Nile Fever / virology*
West Nile virus / classification*
West Nile virus / genetics*
West Nile virus / isolation & purification

Substances

RNA, Messenger
RNA, Viral

Grants and funding

This study was partially supported by the European Union grants FP7-261504 EDENext (www.edenext.eu) to JK, MM, BK, VA, and NN as well as FP7-261391 EuroWestNile (www.eurowestnile.org) to JK and NN. Funder of both grants: European Commission. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.