Viruses, Vol. 11, Pages 1159: Ecology of West Nile Virus in the Danube Delta, Romania: Phylogeography, Xenosurveillance and Mosquito Host-Feeding Patterns

Viruses, Vol. 11, Pages 1159: Ecology of West Nile Virus in the Danube Delta, Romania: Phylogeography, Xenosurveillance and Mosquito Host-Feeding Patterns Viruses doi: 10.3390/v11121159 Authors: Alexandru Tomazatos Stephanie Jansen Stefan Pfister Edina Török Iulia Maranda Cintia Horváth Lujza Keresztes Marina Spînu Egbert Tannich Hanna Jöst Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit Daniel Cadar Renke Lühken The ecology of West Nile virus (WNV) in the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve (Romania) was investigated by combining studies on the virus genetics, phylogeography, xenosurveillance and host-feeding patterns of mosquitoes. Between 2014 and 2016, 655,667 unfed and 3842 engorged mosquito females were collected from four sampling sites. Blood-fed mosquitoes were negative for WNV-RNA, but two pools of unfed Culex pipiens s.l./torrentium collected in 2014 were tested positive. Our results suggest that Romania experienced at least two separate WNV lineage 2 introductions: from Africa into Danube Delta and from Greece into south-eastern Romania in the 1990s and early 2000s, respectively. The genetic diversity of WNV in Romania is primarily shaped by in situ evolution. WNV-specific antibodies were detected for 19 blood-meals from dogs and horses, but not from birds or humans. The hosts of mosquitoes were dominated by non-human mammals (19 species), followed by human and birds (23 species). Thereby, the catholic host-feeding pattern of Culex pipiens s.l./torrentium ...
Source: Viruses - Category: Virology Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research