Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna "Bruno Ubertini" (IZSLER), Via Antonio Bianchi, 7/9, 25124 Brescia, Italy.
WOAH Reference Laboratories for Myxomatosis and for RHD, Via Antonio Bianchi, 7/9, 25124 Brescia, Italy.
Viruses. 2024 Mar 12;16(3):437. doi: 10.3390/v16030437.
Myxoma virus (MYXV) is a Leporipoxvirus (genus) belonging to the family Poxviridae; it is characterised by a genome of approximately 161 kb dsDNA encoding for several proteins that play an essential role in both host spectrum determination and immunomodulation. The healthy reservoir of the virus is spp. At the same time, in wild and domestic European rabbits (), MYXV is the etiologic agent of myxomatosis, a disease with an extremely high mortality rate. In 2014, an interspecies jump of MYXV was reported in in the UK. In 2018, myxomatosis induced by a new recombinant strain called MYXV-To was identified during a large outbreak in Iberian hares () in Spain. Here, we describe the case of myxomatosis in another hare species: an adult male Italian hare () found dead in 2018 in Sicily with lesions suggestive of myxomatosis and treponema infection. Laboratory tests, e.g., end-point PCR and negative staining electron microscopy, confirmed the presence of both pathogens. MYXV was then isolated from tissue samples in permissive cells and sequenced using NGS technology. Main genomic differences concerning known MYXV strains are discussed.
粘液瘤病毒（MYXV）是兔痘病毒（属），属于痘病毒科；它的基因组约为 161 kb dsDNA，编码几种在宿主谱确定和免疫调节中起重要作用的蛋白质。该病毒的健康储主是 spp。同时，在野生和家养的欧洲兔（）中，MYXV 是粘液瘤病的病原体，粘液瘤病的死亡率极高。2014 年，在英国报道了 MYXV 在 物种间的跳跃。2018 年，在西班牙伊比利亚野兔（）的一次大爆发中，发现了一种名为 MYXV-To 的新重组株引起的粘液瘤病。在这里，我们描述了另一种野兔物种中的粘液瘤病病例：2018 年在西西里岛发现的一只成年雄性意大利野兔（）死亡，其病变提示粘液瘤病和梅毒螺旋体感染。实验室检测，如终点 PCR 和负染电子显微镜，证实了这两种病原体的存在。然后，从在允许细胞中的组织样本中分离出 MYXV 并使用 NGS 技术进行测序。讨论了与已知 MYXV 株的主要基因组差异。
