Serological Evidence of West Nile Virus Infection in White-Tailed Deer in Central Texas.

Abstract

White-tailed deer (WTD) are abundant mammals widely distributed across the United States. As a result, WTD are considered to be excellent sentinels for detecting arboviral activity in certain geographic areas. Evidence of West Nile virus (WNV) antibody in WTD has been reported previously in several states. However, WNV infection in WTD has not been reported from Texas, where the incidence of human West Nile (WN) cases is among the highest in the United States. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of WNV antibody in WTD in central Texas. Sera samples (n = 644) were collected from deer during the fall and winter in western Travis County, Texas from 2014 to 2018 and tested for WNV immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody by an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). ELISA antibody-positive samples were further tested for WNV and St. Louis encephalitis virus (SLEV) antibodies by an 80% plaque-reduction neutralization tests (PRNT80). Overall, 9% (n = 58) and 0.31% (n = 2) of the deer samples had serological evidence of WNV and SLEV infections, respectively. WNV seroprevalence differed significantly by age (p < 0.05), but there was no significant difference between sex. Interestingly, 3.1% (n = 20) of the samples were positive for Flavivirus IgG antibody by ELISA, but negative for SLEV and WNV antibodies, suggesting that other Flaviviruses may be circulating among WTD in Texas. Finally, these results supported WNV infection among WTD and highlight their potential role as sentinels for the detection of WNV in Texas and warrant further studies to determine the role WTD play in the maintenance and transmission of WNV.