Usutu virus is a mosquito-borne virus first isolated from Culex naevei in South Africa in 1959. The first emergence of Usutu virus outside Africa was recorded in Austria. Here, a phylogenetic analysis targeting the E5 and NS5 genes was carried out on the viral strains circulating in Europe. The NS5 gene tree showed two main clades, one of which included the Italian sequences. In the E gene tree all sequences grouped into the same main clade, with sequences from Austria divided into two separate clusters. Only sites under negative selective pressure were found in E and NS5 proteins. The results suggest that Usutu virus circulating in Europe has a degree of genetic diversity higher than expected and that infection may arise from different sources.
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J Gen Virol
January 2025
Unidad de Medicina Molecular, Instituto de Biomedicina de UCLM (IB-UCLM), Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM), Albacete, Spain.
Translation errors, impaired folding or environmental stressors (e.g. infection) can all lead to an increase in the presence of misfolded proteins.
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December 2024
Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia.
West Nile virus (WNV), St. Louis encephalitis virus (SLEV), and Usutu virus (USUV) are zoonotic flaviviruses that cause neuroinvasive disease in humans and are maintained in overlapping avian-mosquito transmission cycles. West Nile virus and SLEV cocirculate in the United States, and WNV and USUV cocirculate in Europe.
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Unité des Virus Émergents (UVE: Aix-Marseille Univ, Università di Corsica, IRD 190, Inserm 1207, IRBA), France.
West Nile Virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV) circulate through complex cryptic transmission cycles involving mosquitoes as vectors, birds as amplifying hosts and several mammal species as dead-end hosts. Both viruses can be transmitted to humans through mosquito bites, which can lead to neuroinvasive and potentially fatal disease. Notably, WNV can also be transmitted through blood donations and organ transplants.
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Laboratory of Entomology, Plant Sciences Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Analyses of mosquito-borne virus outbreaks have revealed the presence of similar virus strains over several years. However, it remains unclear how mosquito-borne viruses can persist over winter, when conditions are generally unfavorable for virus circulation. One potential route for virus persistence is via diapausing mosquitoes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMed Sci (Paris)
December 2024
Trafic viral, restriction et immunité innée, Institut de recherche en infectiologie de Montpellier (IRIM), Université de Montpellier, CNRS UMR 9004, Montpellier, France.
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