Lojkić Ivana, Cac Zeljko, Bedeković Tomislav, Lemo Nina, Brstilo Mate, Müller Thomas, Freuling Conrad M
Department of Virology, Croatian Veterinary Institute, Zagreb, Croatia.
Berl Munch Tierarztl Wochenschr. 2012 May-Jun;125(5-6):249-54.
Sylvatic rabies has been present in Croatia for more than three decades, with the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) as the main reservoir. The present epidemic of sylvatic rabies in Croatia started already in 1977 and in the past ten years the disease has become enzootic in the entire country and thus represents a considerable veterinary and public health threat. A genetic characterization and phylogenetic analysis of rabies virus isolates (RABV) from Croatia was performed using panel of 32 selected rabies-positive brain samples from domestic and wild animals collected between 2008 and 2010. Based on the comparison of 367-nucleotide sequences of a conserved region of the nucleoprotein (N) gene (nucleotides 75-441), the phylogenetic analysis revealed a low genetic diversity of currently circulating RABV strains in Croatia. 18 RABV isolates mainly originating from Eastern Croatia clustered with the formerly established Eastern European (EE) lineage, and the rest (14) were identical with the West European (WE) group. Both phylogenetic groups seem to coincide in central regions on both sides along the Save River. A high sequence identity in the N gene of the RABV isolates from neighbouring countries was found.
森林狂犬病在克罗地亚已存在三十多年，主要宿主是赤狐（Vulpes vulpes）。克罗地亚目前的森林狂犬病疫情始于1977年，在过去十年中，该病已在全国范围内成为地方性动物病，因此对兽医和公共卫生构成了相当大的威胁。利用2008年至2010年间从家养和野生动物中收集的32份选定的狂犬病阳性脑样本，对克罗地亚狂犬病病毒分离株（RABV）进行了基因特征分析和系统发育分析。基于核蛋白（N）基因保守区域（核苷酸75 - 441）的367个核苷酸序列的比较，系统发育分析显示克罗地亚目前流行的RABV毒株的遗传多样性较低。18株主要源自克罗地亚东部的RABV分离株与先前确定的东欧（EE）谱系聚类，其余14株与西欧（WE）组相同。两个系统发育组似乎在萨瓦河两岸的中部地区重合。在邻国的RABV分离株的N基因中发现了高度的序列同一性。
