Lim S M, Geervliet M, Verhagen J H, Müskens G J D M, Majoor F A, Osterhaus A D M E, Martina B E E
Artemis One Health Research Foundation, Delft, the Netherlands.
Animal Sciences, Cell Biology and Immunology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Zoonoses Public Health. 2018 Feb;65(1):96-102. doi: 10.1111/zph.12375. Epub 2017 Jul 7.
West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV) are arboviruses that are maintained in enzootic transmission cycles between mosquitoes and birds and are occasionally transmitted to mammals. As arboviruses are currently expanding their geographic range and emerging in often unpredictable locations, surveillance is considered an important element of preparedness. To determine whether sera collected from resident and migratory birds in the Netherlands as part of avian influenza surveillance would also represent an effective source for proactive arbovirus surveillance, a random selection of such sera was screened for WNV antibodies using a commercial ELISA. In addition, sera of jackdaws and carrion crows captured for previous experimental infection studies were added to the selection. Of the 265 screened serum samples, 27 were found to be WNV-antibody-positive, and subsequent cross-neutralization experiments using WNV and USUV confirmed that five serum samples were positive for only WNV-neutralizing antibodies and seven for only USUV. The positive birds consisted of four Eurasian coots (Fulica atra) and one carrion crow (Corvus corone) for WNV, of which the latter may suggest local presence of the virus, and only Eurasian coots for USUV. As a result, the screening of a small selection of serum samples originally collected for avian influenza surveillance demonstrated a seroprevalence of 1.6% for WNV and 2.8% for USUV, suggesting that this sustained infrastructure could serve as a useful source for future surveillance of arboviruses such as WNV and USUV in the Netherlands.
西尼罗河病毒（WNV）和乌苏图病毒（USUV）是虫媒病毒，在蚊子和鸟类之间的地方性传播循环中维持传播，偶尔也会传播给哺乳动物。由于虫媒病毒目前正在扩大其地理范围，且常常在不可预测的地点出现，监测被认为是防范工作的重要组成部分。为了确定作为禽流感监测一部分从荷兰的留鸟和候鸟采集的血清是否也能成为主动监测虫媒病毒的有效来源，随机选取了部分此类血清，使用商业酶联免疫吸附测定法（ELISA）对西尼罗河病毒抗体进行筛查。此外，还将之前用于实验性感染研究而捕获的寒鸦和小嘴乌鸦的血清加入到筛选样本中。在265份被筛查的血清样本中，有27份被发现西尼罗河病毒抗体呈阳性，随后使用西尼罗河病毒和乌苏图病毒进行的交叉中和试验证实，5份血清样本仅对西尼罗河病毒中和抗体呈阳性，7份仅对乌苏图病毒呈阳性。感染西尼罗河病毒的阳性鸟类包括4只白骨顶鸡（Fulica atra）和1只小嘴乌鸦（Corvus corone），后者可能表明该病毒在当地存在，而感染乌苏图病毒的阳性鸟类只有白骨顶鸡。结果表明，对最初为禽流感监测而采集的少量血清样本进行筛查，发现西尼罗河病毒血清阳性率为1.6%，乌苏图病毒为2.8%，这表明这种持续的监测体系可以作为荷兰未来监测西尼罗河病毒和乌苏图病毒等虫媒病毒的有用来源。
