Geographical Distribution of Ljungan Virus in Small Mammals in Europe

• Published in: Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases
• Main Authors: Fevola, Cristina, Rossi, Chiara, Rosso, Fausta, Girardi, Matteo, Rosà, Roberto, Manica, Mattia, Delucchi, Luca, Rocchini, Duccio, Garzon-Lopez, Carol, Arnoldi, Daniele, Bianchi, Alessandro, Buzan, Elena, Charbonnel, Nathalie, Collini, Margherita, Ďureje, Ľudovít, Ecke, Frauke, Ferrari, Nicola, Fischer, Stefan, Gillingham, Emma, Hörnfeldt, Birger, Kazimirova, Maria, Konečný, Adam, Maas, Miriam, Magnusson, Magnus, S., Miller, Andrea, Niemimaa, Jukka, Nordström, Åke, Obiegala, Anna, Olsson, Gert, Pedrini, Paolo, Pialek, Jaroslav, Reusken, Chantal, Rizzoli, Annapaola, Romeo, Claudia, Silaghi, Cornelia, Sironen, Tarja, Stanko, Michal, Tagliapietra, Valentina, Ulrich, Rainer, Vapalahti, Olli, Voutilainen, Liina, Wauters, Lucas, Rizzolli, Franco, Vaheri, Antti, Jääskeläinen, Anne, Henttonen, Heikki, Hauffe, Heidi
• Other Authors: Fondazione Edmund Mach - Edmund Mach Foundation Italie (FEM), Helsingin yliopisto = Helsingfors universitet = University of Helsinki, Università degli Studi di Trento = University of Trento (UNITN), Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna "Bruno Ubertini" (IZSLER), University of Primorska, Centre de Biologie pour la Gestion des Populations (UMR CBGP), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD France-Sud )-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut Agro - Montpellier SupAgro, Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro), Dipartimento di Scienza dei Materiali = Department of Materials Science Milano-Bicocca, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca = University of Milano-Bicocca (UNIMIB), Czech Academy of Sciences Prague (CAS), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences = Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet (SLU), Università degli Studi di Milano = University of Milan (UNIMI), Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI), Cardiff University, Public Health England London, Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS), Masaryk University Brno (MUNI), National Institute for Public Health and the Environment Bilthoven (RIVM), Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE), Ludwig Maximilian University Munich = Ludwig Maximilians Universität München (LMU), Museo delle Scienze, Department of Virology Helsinki, Haartman Institute Helsinki, Faculty of Medecine Helsinki, Helsingin yliopisto = Helsingfors universitet = University of Helsinki-Helsingin yliopisto = Helsingfors universitet = University of Helsinki-Faculty of Medecine Helsinki, Helsingin yliopisto = Helsingfors universitet = University of Helsinki-Helsingin yliopisto = Helsingfors universitet = University of Helsinki, Laboratory work was funded by the European Union grant FP7-261504 EDENext - Biology and control of vector-borne infections in Europe to A.R., H.H., R.G.U., and H.C.H. and by Sigrid Juselius Foundation. Sample collection in Sweden was financed by grants from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (by the National Environmental Monitoring Programme for small rodents and Alvins fond) to B.H.; the Stiftelsen Oscar och Lili Lamms minne to B.H. and F.E.; VINNOVA - Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (Verket For Innovations system) (P32060-1) to F.E.; the Swedish Research Council Formas (221-2012-1562) to F.E., B.H., and G.O.; the National Environmental and Wildlife Monitoring and Assessment program (FoMA, www.slu.se/en/environment) to G.O.; and the Helge Ax:son Johnsons Stiftelse to M.M., European Project: 261504,EC:FP7:HEALTH,FP7-HEALTH-2010-single-stage,EDENEXT(2011)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: rodent vector; bank vole; reservoir host; Picornaviridae; cartogram; GLM; [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]; Tundra
• Online Access: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-02884889; https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-02884889/document; https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-02884889/file/JPS2022.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1089/vbz.2019.2542

International audience Ljungan virus (LV), which belongs to the Parechovirus genus in the Picornaviridae family, was first isolated from bank voles (Myodes glareolus) in Sweden in 1998 and proposed as a zoonotic agent. To improve knowledge of the host association and geographical distribution of LV, tissues from 1685 animals belonging to multiple rodent and insectivore species from 12 European countries were screened for LV-RNA using reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR. In addition, we investigated how the prevalence of LV-RNA in bank voles is associated with various intrinsic and extrinsic factors. We show that LV is widespread geographically, having been detected in at least one host species in nine European countries. Twelve out of 21 species screened were LV-RNA PCR positive, including, for the first time, the red vole (Myodes rutilus) and the root or tundra vole (Alexandromys formerly Microtus oeconomus), as well as in insectivores, including the bicolored white-toothed shrew (Crocidura leucodon) and the Valais shrew (Sorex antinorii). Results indicated that bank voles are the main rodent host for this virus (overall RT-PCR prevalence: 15.2%). Linear modeling of intrinsic and extrinsic factors that could impact LV prevalence showed a concave-down relationship between body mass and LV occurrence, so that subadults had the highest LV positivity, but LV in older animals was less prevalent. Also, LV prevalence was higher in autumn and lower in spring, and the amount of precipitation recorded during the 6 months preceding the trapping date was negatively correlated with the presence of the virus. Phylogenetic analysis on the 185 base pair species-specific sequence of the 5 ' untranslated region identified high genetic diversity (46.5%) between 80 haplotypes, although no geographical or host-specific patterns of diversity were detected.