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Cross-Sectional Study on the Prevalence and Factors Influencing Occurrence of Tick-Borne Encephalitis in Horses in Lithuania

Various animal species have been evaluated in depth for their potential as Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) sentinel species, although evidence for equine capacity is incomplete. Therefore, a comprehensive cross-sectional stratified serosurvey and PCR analysis of selected horses (n = 301) were p...

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Autores principales: Pautienius, Arnoldas, Armonaite, Austeja, Simkute, Evelina, Zagrabskaite, Ruta, Buitkuviene, Jurate, Alpizar-Jara, Russell, Grigas, Juozas, Zakiene, Indre, Zienius, Dainius, Salomskas, Algirdas, Stankevicius, Arunas
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7911650/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33572628
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10020140
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author Pautienius, Arnoldas
Armonaite, Austeja
Simkute, Evelina
Zagrabskaite, Ruta
Buitkuviene, Jurate
Alpizar-Jara, Russell
Grigas, Juozas
Zakiene, Indre
Zienius, Dainius
Salomskas, Algirdas
Stankevicius, Arunas
author_facet Pautienius, Arnoldas
Armonaite, Austeja
Simkute, Evelina
Zagrabskaite, Ruta
Buitkuviene, Jurate
Alpizar-Jara, Russell
Grigas, Juozas
Zakiene, Indre
Zienius, Dainius
Salomskas, Algirdas
Stankevicius, Arunas
author_sort Pautienius, Arnoldas
collection PubMed
description Various animal species have been evaluated in depth for their potential as Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) sentinel species, although evidence for equine capacity is incomplete. Therefore, a comprehensive cross-sectional stratified serosurvey and PCR analysis of selected horses (n = 301) were performed in TBEV endemic localities in Lithuania. Attached and moving ticks (n = 241) have been collected from aforementioned hosts to evaluate natural infectivity of TBEV vectors (Ixodes spp.) in the recreational environments surrounding equestrian centers. All samples were screened for TBEV IgG and positive samples were confirmed by virus neutralization test (VNT). 113 (37.5%) horses from all counties of Lithuania tested positive for TBEV IgG, revealing age and sex indifferent results of equine seroprevalence that were significantly dependent on pedigree: horses of mixed breed were more susceptible to infection possibly due to their management practices. TBEV prevalence in equine species corresponded to TBEV-confirmed human cases in the precedent year. As much as 3.9% of horses were viraemic with TBEV-RNA with subsequent confirmation of TBEV European subtype. 4/38 of tested tick pools were positive for TBEV-RNA (Minimal infectious rate 1.2%). Several unknown microfoci were revealed during the study indicating areas of extreme risk close to popular human entertainment sites. The study provides important evidence in favor of horses’ usage as sentinel species, as equines could provide more detailed epidemiological mapping of TBEV, as well as more efficient collection of ticks for surveillance studies.
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spelling pubmed-79116502021-02-28 Cross-Sectional Study on the Prevalence and Factors Influencing Occurrence of Tick-Borne Encephalitis in Horses in Lithuania Pautienius, Arnoldas Armonaite, Austeja Simkute, Evelina Zagrabskaite, Ruta Buitkuviene, Jurate Alpizar-Jara, Russell Grigas, Juozas Zakiene, Indre Zienius, Dainius Salomskas, Algirdas Stankevicius, Arunas Pathogens Article Various animal species have been evaluated in depth for their potential as Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) sentinel species, although evidence for equine capacity is incomplete. Therefore, a comprehensive cross-sectional stratified serosurvey and PCR analysis of selected horses (n = 301) were performed in TBEV endemic localities in Lithuania. Attached and moving ticks (n = 241) have been collected from aforementioned hosts to evaluate natural infectivity of TBEV vectors (Ixodes spp.) in the recreational environments surrounding equestrian centers. All samples were screened for TBEV IgG and positive samples were confirmed by virus neutralization test (VNT). 113 (37.5%) horses from all counties of Lithuania tested positive for TBEV IgG, revealing age and sex indifferent results of equine seroprevalence that were significantly dependent on pedigree: horses of mixed breed were more susceptible to infection possibly due to their management practices. TBEV prevalence in equine species corresponded to TBEV-confirmed human cases in the precedent year. As much as 3.9% of horses were viraemic with TBEV-RNA with subsequent confirmation of TBEV European subtype. 4/38 of tested tick pools were positive for TBEV-RNA (Minimal infectious rate 1.2%). Several unknown microfoci were revealed during the study indicating areas of extreme risk close to popular human entertainment sites. The study provides important evidence in favor of horses’ usage as sentinel species, as equines could provide more detailed epidemiological mapping of TBEV, as well as more efficient collection of ticks for surveillance studies. MDPI 2021-01-31 /pmc/articles/PMC7911650/ /pubmed/33572628 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10020140 Text en © 2021 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/).
spellingShingle Article
Pautienius, Arnoldas
Armonaite, Austeja
Simkute, Evelina
Zagrabskaite, Ruta
Buitkuviene, Jurate
Alpizar-Jara, Russell
Grigas, Juozas
Zakiene, Indre
Zienius, Dainius
Salomskas, Algirdas
Stankevicius, Arunas
Cross-Sectional Study on the Prevalence and Factors Influencing Occurrence of Tick-Borne Encephalitis in Horses in Lithuania
title Cross-Sectional Study on the Prevalence and Factors Influencing Occurrence of Tick-Borne Encephalitis in Horses in Lithuania
title_full Cross-Sectional Study on the Prevalence and Factors Influencing Occurrence of Tick-Borne Encephalitis in Horses in Lithuania
title_fullStr Cross-Sectional Study on the Prevalence and Factors Influencing Occurrence of Tick-Borne Encephalitis in Horses in Lithuania
title_full_unstemmed Cross-Sectional Study on the Prevalence and Factors Influencing Occurrence of Tick-Borne Encephalitis in Horses in Lithuania
title_short Cross-Sectional Study on the Prevalence and Factors Influencing Occurrence of Tick-Borne Encephalitis in Horses in Lithuania
title_sort cross-sectional study on the prevalence and factors influencing occurrence of tick-borne encephalitis in horses in lithuania
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7911650/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33572628
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10020140
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