TY - JOUR
T1 - Explosive spread of a neuroinvasive lineage 2 West Nile virus in Central Europe, 2008/2009
AU - Bakonyi, Tamás
AU - Ferenczi, Emoke
AU - Erdélyi, Károly
AU - Kutasi, Orsolya
AU - Csörgo, Tibor
AU - Seidel, Bernhard
AU - Weissenböck, Herbert
AU - Brugger, Katharina
AU - Bán, Eniko
AU - Nowotny, Norbert
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was partially supported by the grant OTKA K67900 , and the EC-funded grants ‘ ‘EuroWestNile ” ( FP7-HEALTH-2010.2.3.3-3/2261391 ) and “ EDENext ” ( FP7-HEALTH-2010/261504 ) and is cataloged by the EDENext Steering Committee as EDENext059 ( http://www.edenext.eu ). The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission. The first author is grantee of the “Bolyai János” fellowship grant of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Authors are grateful to Helga Lussy, Mónika Barna and Tamásné Kaposi for excellent technical assistance. Laboratory investigations in the National Center for Epidemiology, Budapest, Hungary, were partially supported by the EDEN Integrated Project (GOCE, Contract No 010284).
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - For the first time outside sub-Saharan Africa, a lineage 2 West Nile virus (WNV) emerged in Hungary in 2004. It caused sporadic cases of encephalitis in goshawks (Accipiter gentilis), other predatory birds, and in mammals. As a consequence, a surveillance program was initiated in Hungary and in Austria, which included virological, molecular, serological and epidemiological investigations in human beings, birds, horses, and mosquitoes. The virus strain became endemic to Hungary, however only sporadic cases of infections were observed between 2004 and 2007. Unexpectedly, explosive spread of the virus was noted in 2008, when neuroinvasive West Nile disease (WND) was diagnosed all over Hungary in dead goshawks and other birds of prey (n = 25), in horses (n = 12), and humans (n = 22). At the same time this virus also spread to the eastern part of Austria, where it was detected in dead wild birds (n = 8). In 2009, recurrent WND outbreaks were observed in Hungary and Austria, in wild birds, horses, and humans in the same areas. Virus isolates of both years exhibited closest genetic relationship to the lineage 2 WNV strain which emerged in 2004. As we know today, the explosive spread of the lineage 2 WNV in 2008 described here remained not restricted to Hungary and Austria, but this virus dispersed further to the south to various Balkan states and reached northern Greece, where it caused the devastating neuroinvasive WND outbreak in humans in 2010.
AB - For the first time outside sub-Saharan Africa, a lineage 2 West Nile virus (WNV) emerged in Hungary in 2004. It caused sporadic cases of encephalitis in goshawks (Accipiter gentilis), other predatory birds, and in mammals. As a consequence, a surveillance program was initiated in Hungary and in Austria, which included virological, molecular, serological and epidemiological investigations in human beings, birds, horses, and mosquitoes. The virus strain became endemic to Hungary, however only sporadic cases of infections were observed between 2004 and 2007. Unexpectedly, explosive spread of the virus was noted in 2008, when neuroinvasive West Nile disease (WND) was diagnosed all over Hungary in dead goshawks and other birds of prey (n = 25), in horses (n = 12), and humans (n = 22). At the same time this virus also spread to the eastern part of Austria, where it was detected in dead wild birds (n = 8). In 2009, recurrent WND outbreaks were observed in Hungary and Austria, in wild birds, horses, and humans in the same areas. Virus isolates of both years exhibited closest genetic relationship to the lineage 2 WNV strain which emerged in 2004. As we know today, the explosive spread of the lineage 2 WNV in 2008 described here remained not restricted to Hungary and Austria, but this virus dispersed further to the south to various Balkan states and reached northern Greece, where it caused the devastating neuroinvasive WND outbreak in humans in 2010.
KW - Austria
KW - Explosive spread
KW - Hungary
KW - Lineage 2
KW - West Nile virus (WNV)
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U2 - 10.1016/j.vetmic.2013.03.005
DO - 10.1016/j.vetmic.2013.03.005
M3 - Article
C2 - 23570864
AN - SCOPUS:84878665226
SN - 0378-1135
VL - 165
SP - 61
EP - 70
JO - Veterinary Microbiology
JF - Veterinary Microbiology
IS - 1-2
ER -