Myoclonus After Cardiac Arrest did not Correlate with Cortical Response on Somatosensory Evoked Potentials.

Purpose: Myoclonus after anoxic brain injury is a marker of significant cerebral injury. Absent cortical signal (N20) on somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) after cardiac arrest is a reliable predictor of poor neurological recovery when combined with an overall clinical picture consistent with severe widespread neurological injury. We evaluated a clinical question of if SSEP result could be predicted from other clinical and neurodiagnostic testing results in patients with post-anoxic myoclonus.

Purification of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease Virus (and Other Orbiviruses) Particles from Infected Mammalian or Insect Cells.

Epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV), like other orbiviruses, infects and replicates in mammalian and insect vector cells. Within its ruminant hosts EHDV, like bluetongue virus (BTV), it has mainly been associated with infection of endothelial cells of capillaries as well as leukocyte subsets. Furthermore, EHDV infects and replicates within its biological vector, Culicoides biting midges and Culicoides-derived cells.

Long-term trial of protection provided by adenovirus-vectored vaccine expressing the PPRV H protein.

A recombinant, replication-defective, adenovirus-vectored vaccine expressing the H surface glycoprotein of peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) has previously been shown to protect goats from challenge with wild-type PPRV at up to 4 months post vaccination. Here, we present the results of a longer-term trial of the protection provided by such a vaccine, challenging animals at 6, 9, 12 and 15 months post vaccination. Vaccinated animals developed high levels of anti-PPRV H protein antibodies, which were virus-neutralising, and the level of these antibodies was maintained for the duration of the trial.

Specific T-cell subsets have a role in anti-viral immunity and pathogenesis but not viral dynamics or onwards vector transmission of an important livestock arbovirus.

Introduction: Bluetongue virus (BTV) is an arthropod-borne that is almost solely transmitted by biting midges and causes a globally important haemorrhagic disease, bluetongue (BT), in susceptible ruminants. Infection with BTV is characterised by immunosuppression and substantial lymphopenia at peak viraemia in the host.

Methods: In this study, the role of cell-mediated immunity and specific T-cell subsets in BTV pathogenesis, clinical outcome, viral dynamics, immune protection, and onwards transmission to a susceptible vector is defined in unprecedented detail for the first time, using an arboviral infection model system that closely mirrors natural infection and transmission of BTV.

Elevated Mortality Rate in Patients With Functional Seizures After Diagnosis and Referral.

Background And Objectives: To evaluate the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) of patients in the United States referred to a multidisciplinary clinic for treatment of functional seizures.

Methods: We identified patients who had or had not died based on automated retrospective review of electronic health records from a registry of patients referred to a single-center multidisciplinary functional seizures treatment clinic. We calculated an SMR by comparing the number of observed deaths with the expected number of deaths in an age-matched, sex-matched, and race-matched population within the same state, and year records were available.

Visualisation of Bluetongue Virus in the Salivary Apparatus of Culicoides Biting Midges Highlights the Accessory Glands as a Primary Arboviral Infection Site.

Background: Arthropods transmit a wide range of pathogens of importance for the global health of humans, animals, and plants. One group of these arthropod vectors, Culicoides biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), is the biological vector of several human and animal pathogens, including economically important livestock viruses like bluetongue virus (BTV). Like other arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses), Culicoides-borne viruses must reach and replicate in the salivary apparatus, from where they can be transmitted to susceptible hosts through the saliva during subsequent blood feeding.

The Acquisition and Retention of Lumpy Skin Disease Virus by Blood-Feeding Insects Is Influenced by the Source of Virus, the Insect Body Part, and the Time since Feeding.

Lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV) is a poxvirus that causes severe systemic disease in cattle and is spread by mechanical arthropod-borne transmission. This study quantified the acquisition and retention of LSDV by four species of Diptera (Stomoxys calcitrans, Aedes aegypti, Culex quinquefasciatus, and Culicoides nubeculosus) from cutaneous lesions, normal skin, and blood from a clinically affected animal. The acquisition and retention of LSDV by Ae.

Field-Reassortment of Bluetongue Virus Illustrates Plasticity of Virus Associated Phenotypic Traits in the Arthropod Vector and Mammalian Host .

Segmented RNA viruses are a taxonomically diverse group that can infect plant, wildlife, livestock and human hosts. A shared feature of these viruses is the ability to exchange genome segments during coinfection of a host by a process termed "reassortment." Reassortment enables rapid evolutionary change, but where transmission involves a biological arthropod vector, this change is constrained by the selection pressures imposed by the requirement for replication in two evolutionarily distant hosts.

Identification of a BTV-Strain-Specific Single Gene That Increases Vector Infection Rate.

Since the 2000s, the distribution of bluetongue virus (BTV) has changed, leading to numerous epidemics and economic losses in Europe. Previously, we found a BTV-4 field strain with a higher infection rate of a vector than a BTV-1 field strain has. We reverse-engineered parental BTV-1 and BTV-4 strains and created BTV-1/BTV-4 reassortants to elucidate the influence of individual BTV segments on BTV replication in both .

An Early Block in the Replication of the Atypical Bluetongue Virus Serotype 26 in Cells Is Determined by Its Capsid Proteins.

Arboviruses such as bluetongue virus (BTV) replicate in arthropod vectors involved in their transmission between susceptible vertebrate-hosts. The "classical" BTV strains infect and replicate effectively in cells of their insect-vectors ( biting-midges), as well as in those of their mammalian-hosts (ruminants). However, in the last decade, some "atypical" BTV strains, belonging to additional serotypes (e.

Downbeat Nystagmus in a 7-Year-Old Girl With Epstein-Barr Virus-Associated Meningitis and Cerebellitis.

Downbeat nystagmus is a type of jerk nystagmus that may be seen in patients with lesions affecting the vestibulocerebellum. This is a case of a 7-year-old girl presenting with a history of fever, headache, and episodic vertigo with downbeat nystagmus. The diagnosis of Epstein-Barr virus meningitis with acute cerebellitis was made by contrast magnetic resonance imaging, cerebrospinal fluid analysis, and serum Epstein-Barr virus titers.

Quantifying and Modeling the Acquisition and Retention of Lumpy Skin Disease Virus by Hematophagus Insects Reveals Clinically but Not Subclinically Affected Cattle Are Promoters of Viral Transmission and Key Targets for Control of Disease Outbreaks.

Lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV) is a vector-transmitted poxvirus that causes disease in cattle. Vector species involved in LSDV transmission and their ability to acquire and transmit the virus are poorly characterized. Using a highly representative bovine experimental model of lumpy skin disease, we fed four model vector species (, , , and ) on LSDV-inoculated cattle in order to examine their acquisition and retention of LSDV.

Thermal limits for flight activity of field-collected Culicoides in the United Kingdom defined under laboratory conditions.

Background: Culicoides biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) are biological vectors of internationally important arboviruses and inflict biting nuisance on humans, companion animals and livestock. In temperate regions, transmission of arboviruses is limited by temperature thresholds, in both replication and dissemination of arboviruses within the vector and in the flight activity of adult Culicoides. This study aims to determine the cold-temperature thresholds for flight activity of Culicoides from the UK under laboratory conditions.

Investigation of bovine ephemeral fever virus transmission by putative dipteran vectors under experimental conditions.

Background: Bovine ephemeral fever virus (Rhabdoviridae: Ephemerovirus) (BEFV) causes bovine ephemeral fever (BEF), an economically important disease of cattle and water buffalo. Outbreaks of BEF in Africa, Australia, Asia and the Middle East are characterized by high rates of morbidity and highly efficient transmission between cattle hosts. Despite this, the vectors of BEFV remain poorly defined.

Depletion of CD8 T cells from vaccinated goats does not affect protection from challenge with wild-type peste des petits ruminants virus.

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a severe disease of goats and sheep that is widespread in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The disease is caused by peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV); cell culture-attenuated strains of PPRV have been shown, both experimentally and by extensive use in the field, to be effective vaccines and are widely used. We have previously demonstrated that these vaccines elicit both serological (PPRV-specific antibody) and cell-based (PPRV-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells) immune responses.

BTV-14 Infection in Sheep Elicits Viraemia with Mild Clinical Symptoms.

In 2011, Bluetongue virus serotype 14 (BTV-14) was detected in Russia during routine surveillance, and was subsequently found in a number of European countries. The strain had high sequence similarity to a BTV-14 vaccine strain. We aimed to determine the risk of this BTV-14 strain causing disease in a UK sheep breed.

Diversity of Transmission Outcomes Following Co-Infection of Sheep with Strains of Bluetongue Virus Serotype 1 and 8.

Bluetongue virus (BTV) causes an economically important disease, bluetongue (BT), in susceptible ruminants and is transmitted primarily by species of biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae). Since 2006, northern Europe has experienced multiple incursions of BTV through a variety of routes of entry, including major outbreaks of strains of BTV serotype 8 (BTV-8) and BTV serotype 1 (BTV-1), which overlapped in distribution within southern Europe. In this paper, we examined the variation in response to coinfection with strains of BTV-1 and BTV-8 using an in vivo transmission model involving , low passage virus strains, and sheep sourced in the United Kingdom.

Lumpy Skin Disease Is Characterized by Severe Multifocal Dermatitis With Necrotizing Fibrinoid Vasculitis Following Experimental Infection.

Lumpy skin disease is a high-consequence disease in cattle caused by infection with the poxvirus lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV). The virus is endemic in most countries in Africa and an emerging threat to cattle populations in Europe and Asia. As LSDV spreads into new regions, it is important that signs of disease are recognized promptly by animal caregivers.

Complete Coding Sequence of a Novel Bluetongue Virus Isolated from a Commercial Sheeppox Vaccine.

The full genome sequences of two isolates of bluetongue virus (BTV) from a commercial sheeppox vaccine were determined. Strain SPvvvv/02 shows low sequence identity to its closest relative, strain BTV-26 KUW2010/02, indicating the probable detection of a novel BTV genotype, whereas strain SPvvvv/03 shows high sequence identity to strain BTV-28/1537/14.

A rapid RT-LAMP assay for the detection of all four lineages of Peste des Petits Ruminants Virus.

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a viral disease of small ruminants that is caused by the PPR virus (PPRV) and is a significant burden on subsistence farmers across the developing world. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) provides cost-effective, rapid, specific and sensitive detection of nucleic acid and has been demonstrated to have field application for a range of viruses. We describe the development of a novel PPRV RT-LAMP assay utilising carefully-selected primers (targeting the N-gene) allowing for the detection of all known PPRV lineages in < 20 min.

A low-passage insect-cell isolate of bluetongue virus uses a macropinocytosis-like entry pathway to infect natural target cells derived from the bovine host.

Bluetongue virus (BTV) causes an economically important disease in domestic and wildlife ruminants and is transmitted by Culicoides biting midges. In ruminants, BTV has a wide cell tropism that includes endothelial cells of vascular and lymphatic vessels as important cell targets for virus replication, and several cell types of the immune system including monocytes, macrophages and dendritic cells. Thus, cell-entry represents a particular challenge for BTV as it infects many different cell types in widely diverse vertebrate and invertebrate hosts.

Evidence of reduced viremia, pathogenicity and vector competence in a re-emerging European strain of bluetongue virus serotype 8 in sheep.

The outbreak of bluetongue virus (BTV) serotype 8 (BTV-8) during 2006-2009 in Europe was the most costly epidemic of the virus in recorded history. In 2015, a BTV-8 strain re-emerged in France which has continued to circulate since then. To examine anecdotal reports of reduced pathogenicity and transmission efficiency, we investigated the infection kinetics of a 2007 UK BTV-8 strain alongside the re-emerging BTV-8 strain isolated from France in 2017.

Comparison of the Immunogenicities and Cross-Lineage Efficacies of Live Attenuated Peste des Petits Ruminants Virus Vaccines PPRV/Nigeria/75/1 and PPRV/Sungri/96.

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a severe disease of goats and sheep that is widespread in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Several effective vaccines exist for the disease, based on attenuated strains of the virus (PPRV) that causes PPR. While the efficacy of these vaccines has been established by use in the field, the nature of the protective immune response has not been determined.

Surviving and fatal Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus-1A infections in juvenile Asian elephants - lessons learned and recommendations on anti-herpesviral therapy.

Background: Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesviruses (EEHVs) can cause acute haemorrhagic disease in young Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) and clinical EEHV infections account for the majority of their fatalities. The anti-herpesviral drug famciclovir (FCV) has been used routinely to treat viraemic at-risk elephants, but thus far without proven efficacy. This paper presents clinical and virological investigations of two EEHV-1A infected elephants treated with FCV, and discusses anti-herpesvirus therapies of viraemic elephants.