Brandolini Martina, De Pascali Alessandra Mistral, Zaghi Irene, Dirani Giorgio, Zannoli Silvia, Ingletto Ludovica, Lavazza Antonio, Lelli Davide, Dottori Michele, Calzolari Mattia, Guerra Massimiliano, Biagetti Carlo, Cristini Francesco, Bassi Paolo, Biguzzi Rino, Cricca Monica, Scagliarini Alessandra, Sambri Vittorio
Unit of Microbiology, The Greater Romagna Area Hub Laboratory, Piazza della Liberazione 60, 47522 Cesena, Italy.
Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences (DIMEC), University of Bologna, Via Giuseppe Massarenti 9, 40138 Bologna, Italy.
One Health. 2024 Nov 19;19:100937. doi: 10.1016/j.onehlt.2024.100937. eCollection 2024 Dec.
In the last 6 years, Italy accounted for 36 % of the total autochthonous European West Nile virus (WNV) cases reported to ECDC. Since 2001, the country put in place a multi-species national surveillance plan. The plan was enhanced in 2020 by adopting a fully integrated "One Health" approach, including human, wild bird, equine, and mosquito surveillance for the early detection of WNV. In this context, the systematic acquisition of whole viral genetic information from human patients and animals is fundamental to obtain an in-depth knowledge on the patterns of virus evolution and transmission and to gain insights on the role virus genetics in morbidity and mortality, The purpose of this pilot study was thus to design a One-Health surveillance framework based on the genomic surveillance of WNV circulating at the vector-human-animal interface, in the endemic territory of Romagna (North-Eastern Italy) during the 2023 transmission season. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) analyses confirmed the circulation of WNV lineage 2 showing high nucleotide and amino acid identity of 99.82 % and 99.92 % respectively among viral sequences from human patients, vectors and birds. All the sequences clustered with other Italian strains in the Central and Southern European clade with robust bootstrap support and BLASTn identity exceeding 99.7 %. The highest nucleotide identity was observed with sequences from Emilia-Romagna and Veneto regions (Italy), confirming a local virus circulation and overwintering of WNV lineage 2 with a confined virus spread and no (or limited) external introduction of viral strains. Our results, support the adoption of a One Health approach to WNV surveillance, based on WGS and integrating the clinical diagnosis, epidemiology, and genomic characterisation, to create a suitable operational process for the characterisation of autochthonous and imported Arboviruses circulating in Romagna to effectively integrate the already established surveillance plan.
在过去6年中，意大利占向欧洲疾病预防控制中心（ECDC）报告的欧洲本土西尼罗河病毒（WNV）病例总数的36%。自2001年以来，该国实施了一项多物种国家监测计划。2020年，该计划通过采用完全整合的“同一健康”方法得到加强，包括对人类、野生鸟类、马和蚊子进行监测，以及时发现西尼罗河病毒。在此背景下，系统获取人类患者和动物的完整病毒基因信息对于深入了解病毒进化和传播模式以及洞察病毒基因在发病率和死亡率中的作用至关重要。因此，本试点研究的目的是设计一个基于在2023年传播季节意大利东北部罗马涅流行地区媒介-人类-动物界面传播的西尼罗河病毒基因组监测的“同一健康”监测框架。全基因组测序（WGS）分析证实了西尼罗河病毒2型的传播，人类患者、媒介和鸟类的病毒序列之间的核苷酸和氨基酸同一性分别高达99.82%和99.92%。所有序列与中欧和南欧分支中的其他意大利毒株聚类，具有强大的自展支持，BLASTn同一性超过99.7%。与来自意大利艾米利亚-罗马涅和威尼托地区的序列具有最高的核苷酸同一性，证实了西尼罗河病毒2型在当地的传播和越冬，病毒传播受限，且没有（或仅有有限的）病毒株外部引入。我们的结果支持采用基于全基因组测序并整合临床诊断、流行病学和基因组特征的“同一健康”方法进行西尼罗河病毒监测，以创建一个合适的操作流程，用于鉴定在罗马涅传播的本土和输入性虫媒病毒，从而有效地整合已建立的监测计划。
