Phylogenetic Characteristics of West Nile Virus Isolated From Culex modestus Mosquitoes in West Kazakhstan

Talgat Nurmakhanov; Yerlan Sansyzbaev; Boris Atshabar; Vladimir Berlin; Damir Kobzhasarov; Olzhas Yeskhojayev; Anna Vilkova; Timur Ayazbayev; Alexey Andryuchshenko; Fyodor Bidashko; John Hay; Alexandr Shvetsov

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2020.575187

Phylogenetic Characteristics of West Nile Virus Isolated From Culex modestus Mosquitoes in West Kazakhstan

Front Public Health. 2021 Feb 12:8:575187. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.575187. eCollection 2020.

Affiliations

¹ M. Aikimbayev's Kazakh Scientific Centre for Quarantine and Zoonotic Diseases (KSCQZD), Almaty, Kazakhstan.
² Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Ministry of Education and Science, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
³ Committee on Consumer Rights Protection, Nursultan, Kazakhstan.
⁴ Ural Anti-Plague Station, Uralsk, Kazakhstan.
⁵ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Jacobs School of Medicine, Univertsity at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, United States.
⁶ National Center for Biotechnology, Nursultan, Kazakhstan.

Abstract

West Nile virus is widespread in southern Russia, where the fever appears annually. Since Western Kazakhstan borders on southern Russia, we examined mosquitoes in this region for the presence of West Nile virus. Virus was detected in a small proportion of Culex modestus mosquitoes (3/239 pools) and isolates are related to strains from Volgograd, Russia. A screen for West Nile virus IgG was conducted and ~5% of the local human population tested positive.

Keywords: E segment; West Kazakhstan region; West Nile virus; West Nile virus (WNV); phylogenetic analysis; seroconversion.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Animals
Culex*
Culicidae*
Humans
Kazakhstan / epidemiology
Phylogeny
Russia
West Nile Fever* / epidemiology
West Nile virus* / genetics