Detection and molecular analysis of West Nile virus infections in birds of prey in the eastern part of Austria in 2008 and 2009

• Published in: Veterinary Microbiology
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2012
• Subjects: West Nile virus; Flavivirus; mosquito-borne flavivirus; zoonosis; goshawk; Austria; Fernandez; Accipiter gentilis; Falco rusticolus; gyrfalcon
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2262/62872; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetmic.2010.12.012

Abstract The emergence of West Nile virus (WNV) was expected in Austria since the initial discovery of the infection in neighbouring Hungary in 2003/2004. In 2008 six cases of West Nile disease were diagnosed at the Institute for Veterinary Disease Control Modling, Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES), involving five goshawks (Accipiter gentilis) and one gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus), which were found dead in the eastern Austrian federal states of Lower Austria, Vienna and Styria, respectively. Pathomorphological and immunohistochemical findings suggested a WNV infection. Virus was isolated in embryonated specific pathogen free chicken eggs and propagated in mouse neuroblastoma cells (NA), in which a cytopathic effect occurred. The virus was identified and characterised by electron microscopic examination and molecular detection using RT-PCR, sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis. The Austrian WNV sequences exhibited nucleotide identities of 99.9% to the lineage 2 WNV sequences described in Hungary since 2004. In addition, 71 sera of 14 different bird species were screened for the presence of WNV antibodies using a commercial ELISA: 43,7% of the tested samples showed antibody titres. Selected positive sera were also subjected to WNV neutralisation tests, in which the ELISA results were verified in 66%. The results of this study confirm unambiguously the presence of a lineage 2 WNV infection in birds of prey in the eastern part of Austria. correspondence: Corresponding author. Tel.:[phone]; fax: [phone]. (Wodak, Eveline) [e-mail] (Wodak, Eveline) Institute for Veterinary Disease Control Modling, Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) - Robert Koch-Gasse 17--> , 2340 Modling--> - AUSTRIA (Wodak, Eveline) AUSTRIA (Wodak, Eveline) Institute for Veterinary Disease Control Modling, Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) - Robert Koch-Gasse 17--> , 2340 Modling--> - AUSTRIA (Richter, Susanne) Institute for Veterinary Disease Control Modling, Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) - Robert Koch-Gasse 17--> , 2340 Modling--> - AUSTRIA (Bago, Zoltan.) Institute for Veterinary Disease Control Modling, Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) - Robert Koch-Gasse 17--> , 2340 Modling--> - AUSTRIA (Revilla-Fernandez, Sandra) Institute of Pathology and Forensic Veterinary Medicine, Department of Pathobiology, University of Veterinary Medicine - Vienna--> , Veterinarplatz 1--> , 1210 Vienna--> - AUSTRIA (Weissenbock, Herbert) Zoonoses and Emerging Infections Group - Clinical Virology--> , Department of Pathobiology--> , University of Veterinary Medicine--> , Vienna--> , Veterinarplatz 1--> , 1210 Vienna--> - AUSTRIA (Nowotny, Norbert) Institute for Veterinary Disease Control Modling, Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) - Robert Koch-Gasse 17--> , 2340 Modling--> - AUSTRIA (Winter, Petra) AUSTRIA Received: 2010-09-20 Revised: 2010-11-22 Accepted: 2010-12-07