Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Concurrent occurrence of human and equine West Nile virus infections in Central Anatolia, Turkey: the first evidence for circulation of lineage 1 viruses.
- Journal:
- International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases
- Year:
- 2013
- Authors:
- Ozkul, Aykut et al.
- Affiliation:
- Department of Virology
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
In Central Anatolia, Turkey, there have been cases of West Nile virus (WNV) infections in both horses and a human, occurring at the same time. These infections affected the central nervous system, leading to symptoms that suggested inflammation of the brain and its surrounding tissues. Testing showed the presence of the virus in blood samples from the horses and in the cerebrospinal fluid from the human. Additionally, a survey found that about 31.6% of the horses tested had antibodies against the virus, indicating they had been exposed to it. This report marks the first time that these specific strains of the virus have been identified in Turkey.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: West Nile fever is an important zoonotic infection caused by West Nile virus (WNV), a member of the Flaviviridae. Previous serological data from Turkey suggest widespread WNV circulation. This report includes cases of human and equine WNV infections occurring concurrently, and manifesting as central nervous system infections, in two neighboring provinces of Central Anatolia, Turkey. A partial phylogenetic analysis of the causative virus is given for the first time. METHODS: The cases were reported in February (horses) and March (human). Symptoms of the disease were similar in the two species, characterized by neurological manifestations suggesting meningoencephalitis. Real-time/nested PCRs and commercial immunoassays and a plaque reduction neutralization assay were employed for the detection of viral RNA and specific antibodies, respectively. RESULTS: WNV RNAs were detected in buffy coat (horses) and cerebrospinal fluid (human) samples. Partial nucleotide sequences of the E-gene coding region revealed that the strains are closely related to viruses of lineage 1, clade 1a. Accompanying equine serosurveillance demonstrated WNV-specific antibodies in 31.6% of the samples. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report of acute WNV infections caused by lineage 1 strains from Turkey, in concordance with previous reports from some European and North African countries.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23517780/