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Serological Evidence of USUTU Virus Occurrence in North‐Eastern Italy
Author(s) -
Lelli R.,
Savini G.,
Teodori L.,
Filipponi G.,
Di Gennaro A.,
Leone A.,
Di Gialleonardo L.,
Venturi L.,
Caporale V.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
zoonoses and public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.87
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1863-2378
pISSN - 1863-1959
DOI - 10.1111/j.1863-2378.2008.01146.x
Subject(s) - flock , virology , flavivirus , tick borne encephalitis virus , japanese encephalitis , biology , virus , plaque reduction neutralization test , serology , encephalitis , seroprevalence , antibody , neutralization , immunology , ecology
Summary In the recent years, USUTU virus (USUV), a flavivirus of the Japanese encephalitis virus complex, has been reported in Central Europe. As part of a systematic surveillance programme to monitor possible entrance and/or circulation of vector‐borne viruses, since 2001, sentinel‐chicken flocks were placed throughout the Italian territory nearby areas considered at risk of virus introduction. They have been periodically checked for the presence of antibodies against flaviviruses by indirect ELISA, plaque reduction neutralization test for USUTU, West Nile and tick‐borne encephalitis viruses. In July 2007, a sentinel chicken in a flock of 20 animals located within the Ravenna province seroconverted to USUV reaching neutralizing titres up to 1 : 5120. A second chicken seroconverted to the same virus 2 months later. Although no virus was rescued from these animals and from wild or farm birds sampled in the area, these results still provided evidence of the circulation of USUV in north‐eastern Italy.