Tick-Borne Encephalitis in the Russian Caucasus: Virus Was Detected for the First Time on the Border of Europe and Asia Minor

Maria V Orlova; Vladimir A Mischenko; Igor V Doronin; Marina V Zabashta; Nikolay V Anisimov; Ivan V Vyalykh

doi:10.1089/vbz.2023.0038

Tick-Borne Encephalitis in the Russian Caucasus: Virus Was Detected for the First Time on the Border of Europe and Asia Minor

Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2024 Mar;24(3):177-180. doi: 10.1089/vbz.2023.0038. Epub 2023 Nov 30.

Authors

Maria V Orlova^{1

2

3}, Vladimir A Mischenko³, Igor V Doronin⁴, Marina V Zabashta⁵, Nikolay V Anisimov⁶, Ivan V Vyalykh³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mobilization Training of Public Health and Disaster Medicine, Tyumen State Medical University, Tyumen, Russia.
² Research and Production Laboratory of Engineering Surveys and Environmental Management Technologies, National Research Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia.
³ Laboratory of Vector-Borne Viral Infections and Tick-Borne Encephalitis, Federal Budgetary Institution of Science «Federal Scientific Research Institute of Viral Infections "Virome"» Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, Ekaterinburg, Russia.
⁴ Laboratory of Herpetology, Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersberg, Russia.
⁵ Department of Epidemiology, Rostov-on-Don Antiplague Scientific Research Institute of Rospotrebnadzor, Rostov-on-Don, Russia.
⁶ Institute X-bio, Tyumen State University, Tyumen, Russia.

PMID: 38032900
DOI: 10.1089/vbz.2023.0038

Abstract

The tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus has been confirmed by molecular analysis in the Caucasus region for the first time. The virus obtained from a tick Ixodes ricinus ex Caspian green lizard belongs to the Zausaev strain of the Siberian subtype (not to a strain of the European subtype highly distributed in the territories adjacent to the Caucasus). This unusual record indicates the need to study the role of lizards in the circulation of natural focal infections.

Keywords: Caucasus; Ixodes ricinus; Lacerta strigata; Zausaev strain; tick-borne encephalitis.

MeSH terms

Animals
Asia
Encephalitis Viruses, Tick-Borne*
Encephalitis, Tick-Borne* / epidemiology
Encephalitis, Tick-Borne* / veterinary
Europe / epidemiology
Ixodes*
Russia / epidemiology