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Characterisation of human tick‐borne encephalitis virus from Sweden
Author(s) -
Haglund Mats,
Vene Sirkka,
Forsgren Marianne,
Günther Göran,
Johansson Bo,
Niedrig Matthias,
Plyusnin Alexander,
Lindquist Lars,
Lundkvist Åke
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.10497
Subject(s) - virology , biology , virus , encephalitis , serology , flaviviridae , tick borne encephalitis virus , japanese encephalitis , tick borne encephalitis , outbreak , flavivirus , viral disease , antibody , genetics
Viruses of the tick‐borne encephalitis (TBE) antigenic complex, within the family Flaviviridae , cause a variety of diseases including uncomplicated febrile illness, meningo‐encephalitis and haemorrhagic fever. Different wildlife species act as reservoir hosts with ixodid tick species as vectors. TBE virus (TBEV) causes 40–130 cases confirmed serologically in Sweden each year. Characteristics of TBEV strains circulating in Sweden have not been investigated previously and no viral sequence data has been reported. In the present study, virus strains were isolated from serum of patients with clinical symptoms consistent with acute TBEV infection. Serologic characterisation, using a panel of E‐specific monoclonal antibodies and cross‐neutralisation tests, indicated that the Swedish strains of TBEV, isolated 1958–1994, all belonged to the Western TBEV subtype, which includes the Austrian vaccine strain Neudoerfl. Genetic analysis of a partial E‐sequence confirmed this close relationship: all Swedish TBEV strains belonged to the European lineage of the Western TBEV subtype, which includes the previously characterised strains Neudoerfl, Hypr, and Kumlinge. Further, three Swedish strains showed partial E‐sequences identical to that of the Finnish Kumlinge strain, ten Swedish strains formed a well‐supported separate cluster, whereas four others did not show any real clustering. No apparent correlation was observed in comparison of clinical parameters with genetic data or geographic origin of the strains. J. Med. Virol. 71:610–621, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.