Exposure of horses in Israel to west nile virus and usutu virus

Gili Schvartz; Sharon Tirosh-Levy; Oran Erster; Roni Shenhar; Hadas Levy; Barbara Bazanow; Boris Gelman; Amir Steinman

doi:10.3390/v12101099

Exposure of horses in Israel to west nile virus and usutu virus

Gili Schvartz, Sharon Tirosh-Levy, Oran Erster, Roni Shenhar, Hadas Levy, Barbara Bazanow, Boris Gelman, Amir Steinman^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

The Koret School of Veterinary Medicine

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV) are arboviruses transmitted by mosquito vectors. Whereas WNV is endemic in Israel, the Middle East, Europe, and in the Americas, data regarding the prevalence of USUV in the Middle East is limited. While both viruses share similar reservoirs and vectors, exposure of horses in the area to USUV have never been assessed. The aim of this study was to estimate the seroprevalence and co-exposure of WNV and USUV in horses in Israel. A total of 327 serum samples from healthy unvaccinated horses in Israel collected in 2018 were tested for neutralizing antibodies against WNV and USUV. Seroprevalence for neutralizing antibodies against WNV and USUV was 84.1% and 10.8%, respectively. Management and age were significantly associated with WNV and USUV seropositivity. This is the first report describing exposure of horses in Israel to USUV, which indicates that this zoonotic pathogen should be included in the differential diagnosis list of neuroinvasive disease in this country.

Original language	American English
Article number	1099
Journal	Viruses
Volume	12
Issue number	10
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/v12101099
State	Published - Oct 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Yaniv Lustig from Israel Central Virology Laboratory (Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Ministry of Health, Israel); Martin Groschup and Utte Ziegler, Institute of Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases (INNT, Friedrich Loeffler Institute, Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany) for supplying USUV positive sera samples from rabbits.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Keywords

Horse
Israel
Usutu virus
West Nile virus

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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title = "Exposure of horses in Israel to west nile virus and usutu virus",

abstract = "West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV) are arboviruses transmitted by mosquito vectors. Whereas WNV is endemic in Israel, the Middle East, Europe, and in the Americas, data regarding the prevalence of USUV in the Middle East is limited. While both viruses share similar reservoirs and vectors, exposure of horses in the area to USUV have never been assessed. The aim of this study was to estimate the seroprevalence and co-exposure of WNV and USUV in horses in Israel. A total of 327 serum samples from healthy unvaccinated horses in Israel collected in 2018 were tested for neutralizing antibodies against WNV and USUV. Seroprevalence for neutralizing antibodies against WNV and USUV was 84.1% and 10.8%, respectively. Management and age were significantly associated with WNV and USUV seropositivity. This is the first report describing exposure of horses in Israel to USUV, which indicates that this zoonotic pathogen should be included in the differential diagnosis list of neuroinvasive disease in this country.",

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author = "Gili Schvartz and Sharon Tirosh-Levy and Oran Erster and Roni Shenhar and Hadas Levy and Barbara Bazanow and Boris Gelman and Amir Steinman",

note = "Funding Information: The authors would like to thank Yaniv Lustig from Israel Central Virology Laboratory (Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Ministry of Health, Israel); Martin Groschup and Utte Ziegler, Institute of Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases (INNT, Friedrich Loeffler Institute, Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany) for supplying USUV positive sera samples from rabbits. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).",

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AU - Bazanow, Barbara

AU - Gelman, Boris

AU - Steinman, Amir

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N2 - West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV) are arboviruses transmitted by mosquito vectors. Whereas WNV is endemic in Israel, the Middle East, Europe, and in the Americas, data regarding the prevalence of USUV in the Middle East is limited. While both viruses share similar reservoirs and vectors, exposure of horses in the area to USUV have never been assessed. The aim of this study was to estimate the seroprevalence and co-exposure of WNV and USUV in horses in Israel. A total of 327 serum samples from healthy unvaccinated horses in Israel collected in 2018 were tested for neutralizing antibodies against WNV and USUV. Seroprevalence for neutralizing antibodies against WNV and USUV was 84.1% and 10.8%, respectively. Management and age were significantly associated with WNV and USUV seropositivity. This is the first report describing exposure of horses in Israel to USUV, which indicates that this zoonotic pathogen should be included in the differential diagnosis list of neuroinvasive disease in this country.

AB - West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV) are arboviruses transmitted by mosquito vectors. Whereas WNV is endemic in Israel, the Middle East, Europe, and in the Americas, data regarding the prevalence of USUV in the Middle East is limited. While both viruses share similar reservoirs and vectors, exposure of horses in the area to USUV have never been assessed. The aim of this study was to estimate the seroprevalence and co-exposure of WNV and USUV in horses in Israel. A total of 327 serum samples from healthy unvaccinated horses in Israel collected in 2018 were tested for neutralizing antibodies against WNV and USUV. Seroprevalence for neutralizing antibodies against WNV and USUV was 84.1% and 10.8%, respectively. Management and age were significantly associated with WNV and USUV seropositivity. This is the first report describing exposure of horses in Israel to USUV, which indicates that this zoonotic pathogen should be included in the differential diagnosis list of neuroinvasive disease in this country.

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Exposure of horses in Israel to west nile virus and usutu virus

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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