Dipartimento di Medicina Diagnostica, Clinica e di Sanità pubblica, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy; S.C. Microbiologia e Virologia, Modena, Italy.
OIE Reference Laboratory for West Nile Fever, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e Molise, Teramo, Italy.
Clin Microbiol Infect. 2017 Jan;23(1):33-37. doi: 10.1016/j.cmi.2016.09.019. Epub 2016 Sep 24.
To monitor the spread and to evaluate the role for public health of Usutu virus (USUV) in an endemic area of Italy.
The survey was retrospectively conducted by detecting USUV RNA and USUV antibodies in cerebrospinal fluid and serum samples collected between 2008 and 2011 from 915 patients with or without neurologic impairments in the area of the municipality of Modena, Italy. Organs of birds and pools of mosquitoes were also tested for USUV RNA. Positive samples were partially sequenced and used for phylogenetic analysis.
The presence of USUV RNA (1.1%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.6-2.0) was significantly (p <0.05) higher than that of West Nile virus (0%; 95% CI 0-0.33). USUV antibody level was 6.57% (95% CI 4.87-8.82), and it was significantly higher (p <0.05) compared to that of West Nile virus (p 2.96, 95% CI 1.89-4.62). Partial genome sequencing of USUV strains detected in humans, birds and mosquitoes revealed high nucleotide sequence identity within them and with the USUV strains isolated in Central Europe.
USUV infection in humans is not a sporadic event in the studied area, and USUV neuroinvasiveness has been confirmed.
监测乌苏图病毒（USUV）的传播情况，并评估其在意大利流行地区的公共卫生作用。
本研究通过检测 2008 年至 2011 年间采集自意大利摩德纳市地区 915 名伴有或不伴有神经损伤的患者的脑脊液和血清样本中的 USUV RNA 和 USUV 抗体，对该病毒进行回顾性调查。还对鸟类器官和蚊子池进行了 USUV RNA 检测。对阳性样本进行了部分测序，并用于系统发育分析。
USUV RNA 的存在率（1.1%；95%置信区间（CI）0.6-2.0）明显高于西尼罗河病毒（0%；95% CI 0-0.33）（p<0.05）。USUV 抗体水平为 6.57%（95% CI 4.87-8.82），明显高于西尼罗河病毒（p<0.05，p 2.96，95% CI 1.89-4.62）。在人类、鸟类和蚊子中检测到的 USUV 毒株的部分基因组测序结果显示，它们之间以及与从中欧分离出的 USUV 毒株之间的核苷酸序列高度相似。
在研究地区，人类感染 USUV 并非偶发事件，并且已经证实 USUV 具有神经侵袭性。
