Zoonotic Viruses in Three Species of Voles from Poland

• Published in: Animals
• Main Authors: Maciej Grzybek, Katarzyna Tołkacz, Tarja Sironen, Sanna Mäki, Mohammed Alsarraf, Jolanta Behnke-Borowczyk, Beata Biernat, Joanna Nowicka, Antti Vaheri, Heikki Henttonen, Jerzy M. Behnke, Anna Bajer
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020
• Subjects: arenavirus; hantavirus; LCMV; CPXV; PUUV; TULV; Veterinary medicine; SF600-1100; Zoology; QL1-991; Microtus arvalis
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10101820; https://doaj.org/article/f086da4bf10f4feb8022099a947413b0

Rodents are known to be reservoir hosts for a plethora of zoonotic viruses and therefore play a significant role in the dissemination of these pathogens. We trapped three vole species ( Microtus arvalis, Alexandromys oeconomus and Microtus agrestis ) in northeastern Poland, all of which are widely distributed species in Europe. Using immunofluorescence assays, we assessed serum samples for the presence of antibodies to hantaviruses, arenaviruses and cowpox viruses (CPXV). We detected antibodies against CPXV and Puumala hantavirus (PUUV), the overall seroprevalence of combined viral infections being 18.2% [10.5–29.3] and mostly attributed to CPXV. We detected only one PUUV/TULV cross-reaction in Microtus arvalis (1.3% [0.1–7.9]), but found similar levels of antibodies against CPXV in all three vole species. There were no significant differences in seroprevalence of CPXV among host species and age categories, nor between the sexes. These results contribute to our understanding of the distribution and abundance of CPXV in voles in Europe, and confirm that CPXV circulates also in Microtus and Alexandromys voles in northeastern Poland.