West Nile virus lineage 2 in Culex mosquitoes in Thessaly, Greece, 2019

Anna Papa; Katerina Tsioka; Sandra Gewehr; Stella Kalaitzopoulou; Styliani Pappa; Spiros Mourelatos

doi:10.1016/j.actatropica.2020.105514

West Nile virus lineage 2 in Culex mosquitoes in Thessaly, Greece, 2019

Acta Trop. 2020 Aug:208:105514. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2020.105514. Epub 2020 May 15.

Authors

Anna Papa¹, Katerina Tsioka², Sandra Gewehr³, Stella Kalaitzopoulou³, Styliani Pappa², Spiros Mourelatos³

Affiliations

¹ National Reference Centre for Arboviruses, Department of Microbiology, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, 54124 Greece. Electronic address: annap@med.auth.gr.
² National Reference Centre for Arboviruses, Department of Microbiology, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, 54124 Greece.
³ EcoDevelopment SA, Thessaloniki, Greece.

PMID: 32422381
DOI: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2020.105514

Abstract

West Nile virus is a flavivirus transmitted to humans mainly by mosquito bites. Outbreaks are observed in several European countries, and Greece is one of the most affected countries during the recent years. Thessaly was one of the most affected regions in Greece in 2019. A total of 3,025 Culex spp. mosquitoes collected in Thessaly were grouped into 47 pools and tested for West Nile virus (WNV). Eight (17%) pools were found positive. Whole genome sequences were obtained from two positive pools. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the causative strain was an evolutionary variant of the strains circulating in 2018 belonging to the Balkan subgroup of the Central European subclade of WNV lineage 2.

Keywords: Culex spp.; Lineage 2; Mosquitoes; West Nile virus; Whole genome.