Zoonotic Arbo and Respiratory Virus Program, Centre for Viral Zoonoses, Department Medical Virology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0031, South Africa.
Department of Paraclinical Sciences, Section Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0110, South Africa.
Viruses. 2021 May 19;13(5):937. doi: 10.3390/v13050937.
The genus, family , contains several important emerging and re-emerging arboviruses of veterinary and medical importance. These viruses may cause mild febrile illness, to severe encephalitis, fetal deformity, abortion, hemorrhagic fever and death in humans and/or animals. Shuni virus (SHUV) is a zoonotic arbovirus thought to be transmitted by hematophagous arthropods. It was previously reported in a child in Nigeria in 1966 and horses in Southern Africa in the 1970s and again in 2009, and in humans with neurological signs in 2017. Here we investigated the epidemiology and phylogenetic relationship of SHUV strains detected in horses presenting with febrile and neurological signs in South Africa. In total, 24/1820 (1.3%) horses submitted to the zoonotic arbovirus surveillance program tested positive by real-time reverse transcription (RTPCR) between 2009 and 2019. Cases were detected in all provinces with most occurring in Gauteng (9/24, 37.5%). Neurological signs occurred in 21/24 (87.5%) with a fatality rate of 45.8%. Partial sequencing of the nucleocapsid gene clustered the identified strains with SHUV strains previously identified in South Africa (SA). Full genome sequencing of a neurological case detected in 2016 showed 97.8% similarity to the SHUV SA strain (SAE18/09) and 97.5% with the Nigerian strain and 97.1% to the 2014 Israeli strain. Our findings suggest that SHUV is circulating annually in SA and despite it being relatively rare, it causes severe neurological disease and death in horses.
该属、科包含几种重要的新兴和重现的虫媒病毒，具有兽医和医学重要性。这些病毒可引起人类和/或动物轻度发热疾病、严重脑炎、胎儿畸形、流产、出血热和死亡。Shuni 病毒（SHUV）是一种人畜共患的虫媒病毒，被认为通过吸血节肢动物传播。它曾于 1966 年在尼日利亚的一名儿童中、20 世纪 70 年代在南非的马中以及 2009 年再次报告，2017 年在出现神经症状的人中也有报告。在这里，我们研究了南非出现发热和神经症状的马中检测到的 SHUV 株的流行病学和系统发育关系。在 2009 年至 2019 年期间，通过实时逆转录（RT-PCR）进行人畜共患虫媒病毒监测计划的 1820 匹马中，有 24 匹（1.3%）检测呈阳性。所有省份都发现了病例，最常见的是豪登省（9/24，37.5%）。24 例中有 21 例（87.5%）出现神经症状，死亡率为 45.8%。核衣壳基因的部分测序将鉴定的毒株与南非以前鉴定的 SHUV 株（SA）聚类在一起。对 2016 年检测到的神经病例进行全基因组测序显示，与 SHUV SA 株（SAE18/09）的相似度为 97.8%，与尼日利亚株的相似度为 97.5%，与 2014 年以色列株的相似度为 97.1%。我们的研究结果表明，SHUV 每年在南非循环传播，尽管它相对罕见，但它会导致马出现严重的神经疾病和死亡。
