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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...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2021
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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. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7911650 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
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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