Detection and Phylogenetic Analysis of a Novel Tick-Borne Virus in Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces, Southwestern China.

Guoyu Niu,Zhijie Guan,Anan Wang,Yize Han,Lin Liu,Hao Qin,Qianwen Ma,Zheng Pang

doi:10.3390/pathogens10091143

Abstract

Dabieshan tick virus (DTV) is a novel tick-borne virus with the potential to infect both animals and humans. It has been confirmed that DTV is widely distributed in Shandong and Zhejiang Provinces. In this study, a total of 389 ticks were sampled from Honghe city of Yunnan Province and Bijie city of Guizhou Province, and then divided into 148 pools according to the location and species. QRT-PCR and nested PCR were performed to confirm the presence of DTV. The results showed a minimum infection rate of 2.43% (5/206) in Yunnan Province and 3.28% (6/183) in Guizhou Province, respectively. Interestingly, DTV was identified in Rhipicephalus microplus for the first time besides Haemaphysalis longicornis. Phylogenetic analysis showed that DTV from Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces shared over 94% identity with isolates derived from Hubei and Shandong Provinces, and DTV was relatively conservative in evolutionary dynamics. These findings provide molecular evidence of Dabieshan tick virus in different species of ticks from unrecognized endemic regions and suggest that DTV may be widely prevalent in southwestern China.

Highlights

Tick-borne viruses (TBVs) are a large group of viruses that can be transmitted by tick bites [1]
Dabieshan tick virus (DTV), which belongs to Uukuvirus genus, Phenuiviridae, Bunyavirales, is one of the novel TBVs and was first identified in H. longicornis from Hubei Province in 2015 [7]
DTV was reported to be widely distributed in ticks from Shandong Province and Zhoushan area [8,9], and there was no significant difference in nucleotide sequence between those isolates and Hubei Province, indicating that DTV was relatively conservative in evolution

Summary

Introduction

Tick-borne viruses (TBVs) are a large group of viruses that can be transmitted by tick bites [1]. In recent years, emerging TBVs, including severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV), Heartland virus (HRTV), Bourbon virus (BRBV), and Alongshan virus (ALSV) have been identified one after another, often with substantial impacts on public health and severe clinical symptoms [3,4,5,6]. These TBVs are transmitted from their natural hosts to human beings through zoonotic infection sources, resulting in disease of varying severity or even death. It is necessary to further investigate the entomological, virological, and epidemiological features of this virus

Methods

Results

Conclusion