Serological and molecular surveillance of West Nile virus in domesticated mammals of peninsular Malaysia

Mohammed Nma Mohammed; Abd Rahaman Yasmin; Siti Zubaidah Ramanoon; Mohd Adzahan Noraniza; Peck Toung Ooi; Mohd Yuseri Ain-Najwa; Jafar Ali Natasha; Saulol Hamid Nur-Fazila; Siti Suri Arshad; Hussni Omar Mohammed

doi:10.3389/fvets.2023.1126199

Serological and molecular surveillance of West Nile virus in domesticated mammals of peninsular Malaysia

Front Vet Sci. 2023 Jun 29:10:1126199. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1126199. eCollection 2023.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosis, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia.
² Department of Animal Production, School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria.
³ Laboratory of Vaccines and Biomolecules, Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia.
⁴ Department of Farm and Exotic Animal Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia.
⁵ Department of Veterinary Clinical Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia.
⁶ Department of Veterinary Pathology and Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia.
⁷ Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States.

Abstract

West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne neurotropic pathogen with a wide host range that constitutes a significant risk to public and animal health. There is limited information on WNV infection in domesticated mammals in Malaysia; however, current reports indicate infections in birds, macaques, bats and pigs from Malaysia. In this study, 203 serum samples from cattle, goats, and horses were tested for the presence of anti-WNV IgG using a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (c-ELISA). Additionally, using one-step RT-PCR, nasopharyngeal swabs were analyzed for WNV RNA from all 203 animals in this study. The WNV seroprevalence was 32.53% (27/83) at 95% CI (0.2342-0.4319) in cattle, 48.27% (14/29) at 95% CI (0.3139-0.6557) in goats and 53.84% (49/91) at 95% CI (0.4366-0.6373) in horses. Cross-reactive JEV antibodies were detected in two cattle and 34 horses. None of the cattle or goats tested positive for WNV RT-PCR. Seven horses were positive for WNV RT-PCR, a molecular prevalence of 7.69% (7/91) at 95% CI (0.0353-0.1528). This is the first reported detection of WNV in domesticated mammals of Malaysia, a significant addition to the growing evidence that WNV is being transmitted from vectors to susceptible hosts in Malaysia.

Keywords: RT-PCR; West Nile virus; antibodies; c-ELISA; cattle; goat; horse; zoonosis.