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Tick-Borne Viruses: Transmission and Surveillance

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A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "Insect Viruses".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2024 | Viewed by 6577

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Anna Papa

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Guest Editor

Department of Microbiology, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: infectious diseases; laboratory diagnostics; molecular epidemiology; pathogenesis; immune responses; phylogeny
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Ticks have the potential to transmit a variety of pathogens, including viruses, which poses a threat to human and animal health. It is estimated that the incidence of tick-borne viral diseases is increasing worldwide. Furthermore, using metagenomics, several novel viruses have recently been identified in ticks, some of them with pathogenic potential. This Special Issue, entitled "Tick-Borne Viruses: Transmission and Surveillance", aims to present recent research on any aspect of the viruses transmitted to vertebrate hosts through tick bites and to expand our knowledge on their transmissibility and surveillance. Some of the focal points of the Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

Factors affecting the transmission of tick-borne viruses;
Virulence in ticks and hosts;
Tick–virus–host interactions;
Surveillance of tick-borne viral diseases;
Interventions for the control of tick-borne viruses.

Reviews, original research, and communications are all welcome.

Prof. Dr. Anna Papa
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Viruses is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

tick-borne viruses
transmissibility
vector competence
virulence
interactions
surveillance
discovery
replication
pathogenesis
vaccine development

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 1716 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Prevalence of Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus in Wild Rodents Captured in Tick-Borne Encephalitis Foci in Highly Endemic Lithuania

by Evelina Simkute, Arnoldas Pautienius, Juozas Grigas, Marina Sidorenko, Jana Radzijevskaja, Algimantas Paulauskas and Arunas Stankevicius

Viruses 2024, 16(3), 444; https://doi.org/10.3390/v16030444 - 13 Mar 2024

Viewed by 803

Abstract

Wild rodents are considered to be one of the most important TBEV-amplifying reservoir hosts; therefore, they may be suitable for foci detection studies. To investigate the effectiveness of viral RNA detection in wild rodents for suspected TBEV foci confirmation, we trapped small rodents (n = 139) in various locations in Lithuania where TBEV was previously detected in questing ticks. Murine neuroblastoma Neuro-2a cells were inoculated with each rodent sample to maximize the chances of detecting viral RNA in rodent samples. TBEV RNA was detected in 74.8% (CI 95% 66.7–81.1) of the brain and/or internal organ mix suspensions, and the prevalence rate increased significantly following sample cultivation in Neuro-2a cells. Moreover, a strong correlation (r = 0.88; p < 0.05) was found between the average monthly air temperature of rodent trapping and the TBEV RNA prevalence rate in cell culture isolates of rodent suspensions, which were PCR-negative before cultivation in cell culture. This study shows that wild rodents are suitable sentinel animals to confirm TBEV foci. In addition, the study results demonstrate that sample cultivation in cell culture is a highly efficient method for increasing TBEV viral load to detectable quantities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tick-Borne Viruses: Transmission and Surveillance)

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15 pages, 4972 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Difference in Intraspecies Transmissibility of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus Depending on Abrogating Type 1 Interferon Signaling in Mice

by Byungkwan Oh, Seok-Chan Park, Myeon-Sik Yang, Daram Yang, Gaeul Ham, Dongseob Tark, Myung Jo You, Sang-Ik Oh and Bumseok Kim

Viruses 2024, 16(3), 401; https://doi.org/10.3390/v16030401 - 05 Mar 2024

Viewed by 886

Abstract

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), a tick-borne zoonotic disease, is caused by infection with SFTS virus (SFTSV). A previous study reported that human-to-human direct transmission of SFTSV can occur. However, potential animal-to-animal transmission of SFTSV without ticks has not been fully clarified. Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate potential mice-to-mice transmission of SFTSV by co-housing three groups of mice [i.e., wild-type mice (WT), mice injected with an anti-type I interferon-α receptor-blocking antibody (IFNAR Ab), and mice with knockout of type I interferon-α receptor (IFNAR KO)] as spreaders or recipients with different immune competence. As a result, co-housed IFNAR Ab and IFNAR KO mice showed body weight loss with SFTS viral antigens detected in their sera, extracorporeal secretions, and various organs. Based on histopathology, white pulp atrophy in the spleen was observed in all co-housed mice except WT mice. These results obviously show that IFNAR Ab and IFNAR KO mice, as spreaders, exhibited higher transmissibility to co-housed mice than WT mice. Moreover, IFNAR KO mice, as recipients, were more susceptible to SFTSV infection than WT mice. These findings suggest that type I interferon signaling is a pivotal factor in mice intraspecies transmissibility of SFTSV in the absence of vectors such as ticks. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tick-Borne Viruses: Transmission and Surveillance)

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18 pages, 2652 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multiplex Serology for Sensitive and Specific Flavivirus IgG Detection: Addition of Envelope Protein Domain III to NS1 Increases Sensitivity for Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus IgG Detection

by Coralie Valle, Sandhya Shrestha, Gert-Jan Godeke, Marieke N. Hoogerwerf, Johan Reimerink, Dirk Eggink and Chantal Reusken

Viruses 2024, 16(2), 286; https://doi.org/10.3390/v16020286 - 13 Feb 2024

Viewed by 1183

Abstract

Tick-borne encephalitis is a vaccine-preventable disease of concern for public health in large parts of Europe, with EU notification rates increasing since 2018. It is caused by the orthoflavivirus tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) and a diagnosis of infection is mainly based on serology due to its short viremic phase, often before symptom onset. The interpretation of TBEV serology is hampered by a history of orthoflavivirus vaccination and by previous infections with related orthoflaviviruses. Here, we sought to improve TBEV sero-diagnostics using an antigen combination of in-house expressed NS1 and EDIII in a multiplex, low-specimen-volume set-up for the detection of immune responses to TBEV and other clinically important orthoflaviviruses (i.e., West Nile virus, dengue virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, Usutu virus and Zika virus). We show that the combined use of NS1 and EDIII results in both a specific and sensitive test for the detection of TBEV IgG for patient diagnostics, vaccination responses and in seroprevalence studies. This novel approach potentially allows for a low volume-based, simultaneous analysis of IgG responses to a range of orthoflaviviruses with overlapping geographic circulations and clinical manifestations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tick-Borne Viruses: Transmission and Surveillance)

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9 pages, 632 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Active Surveillance of Powassan Virus in Massachusetts Ixodes scapularis Ticks, Comparing Detection Using a New Triplex Real-Time PCR Assay with a Luminex Vector-Borne Panel

by Guang Xu, Eric Siegel, Nolan Fernandez, Emily Bechtold, Timothy Daly, Alan P. Dupuis II, Alexander Ciota and Stephen M. Rich

Viruses 2024, 16(2), 250; https://doi.org/10.3390/v16020250 - 04 Feb 2024

Viewed by 2443

Abstract

Powassan virus is an emerging tick-borne pathogen capable of causing severe neuroinvasive disease. As the incidence of human Powassan virus grows both in magnitude and geographical range, the development of sensitive detection methods for diagnostics and surveillance is critical. In this study, a Taqman-based triplex real-time PCR assay was developed for the simultaneous and quantitative detection of Powassan virus and Powassan virus lineage II (deer tick virus) in Ixodes scapularis ticks. An exon–exon junction internal control was built-in to allow for accurate detection of RNA quality and the failure of RNA extraction. The newly developed assay was also applied to survey deer tick virus in tick populations at 13 sites on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard Island in Massachusetts. The assay’s performance was compared with the Luminex xMAP MultiFLEX Vector-borne Panel 2. The results suggested that the real-time PCR method was more sensitive. Powassan virus infection rates among ticks collected from these highly endemic tick areas ranged from 0.0 to 10.4%, highlighting the fine-scale geographic variations in deer tick virus presence in this region. Looking forward, our PCR assay could be adopted in other Powassan virus surveillance systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tick-Borne Viruses: Transmission and Surveillance)

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7 pages, 497 KiB

Open AccessBrief Report

Direct Evidence of Powassan Virus Vertical Transmission in Ixodes scapularis in Nature

by Rachel E. Lange, Melissa A. Prusinski, Alan P. Dupuis II and Alexander T. Ciota

Viruses 2024, 16(3), 456; https://doi.org/10.3390/v16030456 - 16 Mar 2024

Viewed by 799

Abstract

Powassan virus (POWV) is a tick-borne flavivirus endemic in North America and Russia. Experimental infections with POWV have confirmed horizontal, transstadial, vertical, and cofeeding transmission routes for potential virus maintenance. In the field, vertical transmission has never been observed. During New York State tick-borne pathogen surveillance, POWV RNA and/or infectious POWV was detected in five pools of questing Ixodes scapularis larvae. Additionally, engorged female I. scapularis adults were collected from hunter-harvested white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in a region with relatively high tick infection rates of POWV and allowed to oviposit under laboratory conditions. POWV RNA was detected in three female adult husks and one pool of larvae from a positive female. Infectious virus was isolated from all three RNA-positive females and the single positive larval pool. The detection of RNA and infectious virus in unfed questing larvae from the field and larvae from replete females collected from the primary tick host implicates vertical transmission as a potential mechanism for the maintenance of POWV in I. scapularis in nature, and elucidates the potential epidemiological significance of larval ticks in the transmission of POWV to humans. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tick-Borne Viruses: Transmission and Surveillance)

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