Abstract
Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) causes significant viral encephalitis and is distributed throughout the Asian countries. The virus is known to be transmitted by Culex tritaeniorhynchus, which mainly breeds in rice paddies in Korea. In this study, we investigated the presence of other mosquito species that can transmit JEV as a second or regional vector. We selected five cities where patients have experienced JE in the last 5 years as mosquito-collecting locations and subdivided them into four collection sites according to the mosquito habitats (cowshed, downtown area, forest, and swamp). Mosquitoes were caught using the BG-Sentinel trap, CDC black-light trap, Fay-Prince trap, and Gravid trap. A total of 993 pools from 22,774 mosquitoes were prepared according to their species, collection date, and site. We performed a SYBR Green 1-based real-time RT-PCR assay to detect JEV from the mosquito pools. A total of six JEV-positive pools were detected from Culex orientalis and Culex pipiens caught in the Gangwon-do and Gyeonngi-do provinces. All the detected JEVs were revealed as genotype V by phylogenetic analysis of the envelope gene. Our findings confirm that a new genotype of JEV was introduced in Korea and suggest that two mosquito species may play a role in JEV transmission.
Highlights
Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a mosquito-borne RNA virus in the genus Flavivirus and causes approximately 30,000–50,000 human encephalitis cases each year throughout Asian countries [1,2]
Of the 933 pools of mosquitoes tested by real-time RT-PCR, 6 JEVs and 2 chaoyang viruses were detected from 2 species of Culex and Aedes vexans mosquitoes, respectively (Table 5)
JEVs were detected in Culex orientalis and Culex pipiens mosquitoes caught in mid August to early September in Hwacheon, Ansan, and Yeoju cities (Table 6)
Summary
Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a mosquito-borne RNA virus in the genus Flavivirus (family Flaviviridae) and causes approximately 30,000–50,000 human encephalitis cases each year throughout Asian countries [1,2]. JEV is of a circulating nature, forming a transmission cycle from mosquitoes to birds and swine, which together form the virus’s reservoir, and the swine act as an amplifying host. Thereafter, the cycle continues to mosquitoes, and to humans or some incidentally infected vertebrates. JEV has five genotypes (I–V) based on the genetic distances of the envelope gene or complete genome sequences when it has only one serotype [2].
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