Abstract
Mosquitoes collected in northern Italy were screened for flavivirus RNA. Positive amplicons were sequenced and found most similar to insect flavivirus (ISF), Usutu virus (USUV) and surprisingly also to Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV). The sequence (167 bp), obtained from one pool of Culex pipiens, was found identical to JEV strains from bats in China. Unfortunately additional sequence data or virus isolations were not obtained in this study. Confirmation of potential introduction of JEV to Italy and other European countries is urgently needed.
Highlights
Mosquitoes collected in northern Italy were screened for flavivirus RNA
Following the active circulation of WNV and USUV, the recent detection of novel insect flavivirus (ISF) in Italy and elsewhere in Europe, and the detection of dengue virus in southern France and Croatia [1,7,10,11], the aim of this study was to screen mosquitoes for flavivirus RNA using a system allowing the detection of all flaviviruses
While the potential risk of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) spreading to Europe has been acknowledged before [8], and despite the active surveillance for flaviviruses such as WNV and USUV, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a JEV-like sequence in mosquitoes in Europe
Summary
Positive amplicons were sequenced and found most similar to insect flavivirus (ISF), Usutu virus (USUV) and surprisingly to Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV). In the course of a small-scale preliminary study screening for the presence of flavivirus RNA in mosquitoes in Italy, we obtained sequences of three different flaviviruses; an insect-specific flavivirus (ISF) related to cell fusing agent virus, Usutu virus (USUV) and, to our surprise, of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV). Following the active circulation of WNV and USUV, the recent detection of novel ISFs in Italy and elsewhere in Europe, and the detection of dengue virus in southern France and Croatia [1,7,10,11], the aim of this study was to screen mosquitoes for flavivirus RNA using a system allowing the detection of all flaviviruses. The obtained sequences were identified using BLAST (blast.ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi)
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