Evaluation of Vector Competence of Ixodes Ticks for Kemerovo Virus

Camille Victoire Migné; Hélène Braga de Seixas; Aurélie Heckmann; Clémence Galon; Fauziah Mohd Jaafar; Baptiste Monsion; Houssam Attoui; Sara Moutailler

doi:10.3390/v14051102

Evaluation of Vector Competence of Ixodes Ticks for Kemerovo Virus

Viruses. 2022 May 20;14(5):1102. doi: 10.3390/v14051102.

Authors

Camille Victoire Migné^{1

2}, Hélène Braga de Seixas¹, Aurélie Heckmann¹, Clémence Galon¹, Fauziah Mohd Jaafar², Baptiste Monsion², Houssam Attoui², Sara Moutailler¹

Affiliations

¹ ANSES, INRAE, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort, UMR BIPAR, Laboratoire de Santé Animale, F-94700 Maisons-Alfort, France.
² ANSES, INRAE, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort, UMR 1161 Virologie, Laboratoire de Santé Animale, F-94700 Maisons-Alfort, France.

Abstract

Tick-borne viruses are responsible for various symptoms in humans and animals, ranging from simple fever to neurological disorders or haemorrhagic fevers. The Kemerovo virus (KEMV) is a tick-borne orbivirus, and it has been suspected to be responsible for human encephalitis cases in Russia and central Europe. It has been isolated from Ixodes persulcatus and Ixodes ricinus ticks. In a previous study, we assessed the vector competence of I. ricinus larvae from Slovakia for KEMV, using an artificial feeding system. In the current study, we used the same system to infect different tick population/species, including I. ricinus larvae from France and nymphs from Slovakia, and I. persulcatus larvae from Russia. We successfully confirmed the first two criteria of vector competence, namely, virus acquisition and trans-stadial transmission, for both tick species that we tested. The estimated infection rates of engorged and moulted ticks suggest specificities between viral strains and tick species/developmental stages.

Keywords: Kemerovo virus; tick-borne orbivirus; ticks; vector competence.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Animals
Disease Vectors
Europe
Ixodes*
Larva
Orbivirus*

Grants and funding

C.V.M., H.B.d.S., A.H., C.G., F.M.J., B.M., H.A. and S.M. were supported by the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES) and the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRAE). UMR BIPAR is supported by the French Government’s Investissement d’Avenir program, Laboratoire d’Excellence “Integrative Biology of Emerging Infectious Diseases” (grant No. ANR-10-LABEX-62-IBEID).