The Australian public is still vulnerable to emerging virulent strains of West Nile virus
The mosquito-borne West Nile virus (WNV) is responsible for outbreaks of viral encephalitis in humans and horses with particularly virulent strains causing recent outbreaks in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North America. In Australia, a strain of WNV, Kunjin (WNVKUN), is endemic in the north a...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2014-09-01
|
Series: | Frontiers in Public Health |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpubh.2014.00146/full |
id |
doaj-febaf60dd59e41ba9bcff5cbb94f4f2b |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-febaf60dd59e41ba9bcff5cbb94f4f2b2020-11-25T00:38:26ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Public Health2296-25652014-09-01210.3389/fpubh.2014.00146110260The Australian public is still vulnerable to emerging virulent strains of West Nile virusNatalie A. Prow0Natalie A. Prow1Elise K. Hewlett2Elise K. Hewlett3Helen M. Faddy4Flaminia eCoiacetto5Wenqi eWang6Tarnya eCox7Tarnya eCox8Roy A Hall9Helle eBielefeldt-Ohmann10Helle eBielefeldt-Ohmann11University of QueenslandThe University of Queensland,University of QueenslandThe University of Queensland,Australian Red Cross Blood ServiceThe University of QueenslandThe University of QueenslandNSW Department of Primary IndustriesUniversity of CanberraThe University of Queensland,University of QueenslandThe University of QueenslandThe mosquito-borne West Nile virus (WNV) is responsible for outbreaks of viral encephalitis in humans and horses with particularly virulent strains causing recent outbreaks in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North America. In Australia, a strain of WNV, Kunjin (WNVKUN), is endemic in the north and infection with this virus is generally asymptomatic. However, in early 2011, following extensive flooding, an unprecedented outbreak of WNVKUN encephalitis in horses occurred in south-eastern Australia, resulting in more than 1,000 cases and a mortality of 10-15%. Despite widespread evidence of equine infections, there was only a single mild human case reported during this outbreak. To understand why clinical disease was seen in horses without similar observations in the human population, a serosurvey was conducted using blood donor samples from areas where equine cases were reported to assess level of flavivirus exposure. The seroprevalence to WNVKUN in humans was low before the outbreak (0.7%), and no significant increase was demonstrated after the outbreak period (0.6%). Due to unusual epidemiological features during this outbreak, a serosurvey was also conducted in rabbits, a potential reservoir host. Out of 675 animals, sampled across Australia between April 2011 and November 2012, 86 (12.7%) were seropositive for WNVKUN, with the highest prevalence during February of 2012 (28/145; 19.3%). As this is the first serological survey for WNVKUN in Australian feral rabbits, it remains to be determined whether wild rabbits are able to develop a high enough viraemia to actively participate in WNV transmission in Australia. However, they may constitute a sentinel species for arbovirus activity, and this is the focus of ongoing studies. Collectively this study provides little evidence of human exposure to WNVKUN during the 2011 outbreak and indicates that the Australian population remains susceptible to the emergence of virulent strains of WNV.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpubh.2014.00146/fullHumansRabbitsWest Nile virusseroprevalenceequine encephalitis |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Natalie A. Prow Natalie A. Prow Elise K. Hewlett Elise K. Hewlett Helen M. Faddy Flaminia eCoiacetto Wenqi eWang Tarnya eCox Tarnya eCox Roy A Hall Helle eBielefeldt-Ohmann Helle eBielefeldt-Ohmann |
spellingShingle |
Natalie A. Prow Natalie A. Prow Elise K. Hewlett Elise K. Hewlett Helen M. Faddy Flaminia eCoiacetto Wenqi eWang Tarnya eCox Tarnya eCox Roy A Hall Helle eBielefeldt-Ohmann Helle eBielefeldt-Ohmann The Australian public is still vulnerable to emerging virulent strains of West Nile virus Frontiers in Public Health Humans Rabbits West Nile virus seroprevalence equine encephalitis |
author_facet |
Natalie A. Prow Natalie A. Prow Elise K. Hewlett Elise K. Hewlett Helen M. Faddy Flaminia eCoiacetto Wenqi eWang Tarnya eCox Tarnya eCox Roy A Hall Helle eBielefeldt-Ohmann Helle eBielefeldt-Ohmann |
author_sort |
Natalie A. Prow |
title |
The Australian public is still vulnerable to emerging virulent strains of West Nile virus |
title_short |
The Australian public is still vulnerable to emerging virulent strains of West Nile virus |
title_full |
The Australian public is still vulnerable to emerging virulent strains of West Nile virus |
title_fullStr |
The Australian public is still vulnerable to emerging virulent strains of West Nile virus |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Australian public is still vulnerable to emerging virulent strains of West Nile virus |
title_sort |
australian public is still vulnerable to emerging virulent strains of west nile virus |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Public Health |
issn |
2296-2565 |
publishDate |
2014-09-01 |
description |
The mosquito-borne West Nile virus (WNV) is responsible for outbreaks of viral encephalitis in humans and horses with particularly virulent strains causing recent outbreaks in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North America. In Australia, a strain of WNV, Kunjin (WNVKUN), is endemic in the north and infection with this virus is generally asymptomatic. However, in early 2011, following extensive flooding, an unprecedented outbreak of WNVKUN encephalitis in horses occurred in south-eastern Australia, resulting in more than 1,000 cases and a mortality of 10-15%. Despite widespread evidence of equine infections, there was only a single mild human case reported during this outbreak. To understand why clinical disease was seen in horses without similar observations in the human population, a serosurvey was conducted using blood donor samples from areas where equine cases were reported to assess level of flavivirus exposure. The seroprevalence to WNVKUN in humans was low before the outbreak (0.7%), and no significant increase was demonstrated after the outbreak period (0.6%). Due to unusual epidemiological features during this outbreak, a serosurvey was also conducted in rabbits, a potential reservoir host. Out of 675 animals, sampled across Australia between April 2011 and November 2012, 86 (12.7%) were seropositive for WNVKUN, with the highest prevalence during February of 2012 (28/145; 19.3%). As this is the first serological survey for WNVKUN in Australian feral rabbits, it remains to be determined whether wild rabbits are able to develop a high enough viraemia to actively participate in WNV transmission in Australia. However, they may constitute a sentinel species for arbovirus activity, and this is the focus of ongoing studies. Collectively this study provides little evidence of human exposure to WNVKUN during the 2011 outbreak and indicates that the Australian population remains susceptible to the emergence of virulent strains of WNV. |
topic |
Humans Rabbits West Nile virus seroprevalence equine encephalitis |
url |
http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpubh.2014.00146/full |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT natalieaprow theaustralianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus AT natalieaprow theaustralianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus AT elisekhewlett theaustralianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus AT elisekhewlett theaustralianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus AT helenmfaddy theaustralianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus AT flaminiaecoiacetto theaustralianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus AT wenqiewang theaustralianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus AT tarnyaecox theaustralianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus AT tarnyaecox theaustralianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus AT royahall theaustralianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus AT helleebielefeldtohmann theaustralianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus AT helleebielefeldtohmann theaustralianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus AT natalieaprow australianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus AT natalieaprow australianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus AT elisekhewlett australianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus AT elisekhewlett australianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus AT helenmfaddy australianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus AT flaminiaecoiacetto australianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus AT wenqiewang australianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus AT tarnyaecox australianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus AT tarnyaecox australianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus AT royahall australianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus AT helleebielefeldtohmann australianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus AT helleebielefeldtohmann australianpublicisstillvulnerabletoemergingvirulentstrainsofwestnilevirus |
_version_ |
1725297545365684224 |