Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
Emerg Infect Dis. 2010 Mar;16(3):549-52.
Putative new lineage of west nile virus, Spain.
Abstract
To ascertain the presence of West Nile virus (WNV), we sampled mosquitoes in 2006 in locations in southern Spain where humans had been infected. WNV genomic RNA was detected in 1 pool from unfed female Culex pipiens mosquitoes. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that this sequence cannot be assigned to previously described lineages of WNV.
Full Article: http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/16/3/549.htm
snip:
This report and the recent description of WNV lineage 1 in wild birds (14) demonstrate the circulation of both WNV lineages in Spain.
This finding should lead to the analysis of serologic evidence of WNV infections in birds, horses, and humans in Spain and surrounding countries, where the highly pathogenic WNV strains sporadically cause clinical infections.
An explanation for the high WNV seroprevalence levels found in birds, horses, and humans in the absence of neurologic disease in Spain could be that this new lineage infects birds and protects them from most pathogenic strains of WNV.
Putative new lineage of west nile virus, Spain.
Abstract
To ascertain the presence of West Nile virus (WNV), we sampled mosquitoes in 2006 in locations in southern Spain where humans had been infected. WNV genomic RNA was detected in 1 pool from unfed female Culex pipiens mosquitoes. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that this sequence cannot be assigned to previously described lineages of WNV.
Full Article: http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/16/3/549.htm
snip:
This report and the recent description of WNV lineage 1 in wild birds (14) demonstrate the circulation of both WNV lineages in Spain.
This finding should lead to the analysis of serologic evidence of WNV infections in birds, horses, and humans in Spain and surrounding countries, where the highly pathogenic WNV strains sporadically cause clinical infections.
An explanation for the high WNV seroprevalence levels found in birds, horses, and humans in the absence of neurologic disease in Spain could be that this new lineage infects birds and protects them from most pathogenic strains of WNV.