Abstract
Phleboviruses transmitted by sandflies are endemic in the Mediterranean area. The last decade has witnessed the description of an accumulating number of novel viruses. Although, the risk of exposure of vertebrates is globally assessed, detailed geographic knowledge is poor even in Greece and Cyprus where sandfly fever has been recognized for a long time and repeatedly. A total of 1,250 dogs from mainland Greece and Greek archipelago on one hand and 422 dogs from Cyprus on the other hand have been sampled and tested for neutralising antibodies against Toscana virus (TOSV), Sandfly fever Sicilian virus (SFSV), Arbia virus, and Adana virus i.e. four viruses belonging to the 3 sandfly-borne serocomplexes known to circulate actively in the Mediterranean area. Our results showed that (i) SFSV is highly prevalent with 71.9% (50.7–84.9% depending on the region) in Greece and 60.2% (40.0–72.6%) in Cyprus; (ii) TOSV ranked second with 4.4% (0–15.4%) in Greece and 8.4% (0–11.4%) in Cyprus; (iii) Salehabad viruses (Arbia and Adana) displayed also substantial prevalence rates in both countries with values ranging from 0–22.6% depending on the region and on the virus strain used in the test. These results demonstrate that circulation of viruses transmitted by sand flies can be estimated qualitatively using dog sera. As reported in other regions of the Mediterranean, these results indicate that it is time to shift these viruses from the "neglected" status to the "priority" status in order to stimulate studies aiming at defining and quantifying their medical and veterinary importance and possible public health impact. Specifically, viruses belonging to the Sandfly fever Sicilian complex should be given careful consideration. This calls for implementation of direct and indirect diagnosis in National reference centers and in hospital microbiology laboratories and systematic testing of unelucidated febrile illness and central and peripheral nervous system febrile manifestations.
Highlights
In the Old world, phleboviruses (Bunyaviridae family, Phlebovirus genus) transmitted by phlebotomines consist of three species or antigenic groups, namely Sandfly fever Naples, Salehabad, and Sandfly fever Sicilian serocomplexes
Greece and 422 dogs from Cyprus were tested for the presence of neutralising antibodies signing previous infection with selected phleboviruses representing the 3 serological complexes known to be present in the Old World: Toscana virus (TOSV), Sandfly fever Sicilian virus (SFSV) and Salehabad viruses (Arbia and Adana viruses)
SFSV is largely predominant with infection rates higher than 50%, (ii) TOSV is widely distributed with 4.4% and 8.4% in Greece and Cyprus, respectively, and (iii) that viruses belonging to the Salehabad serocomplex should be further studied for their capacity to cause human disease in view of prevalence rates in dogs up to 22.6%
Summary
In the Old world, phleboviruses (Bunyaviridae family, Phlebovirus genus) transmitted by phlebotomines consist of three species or antigenic groups, namely Sandfly fever Naples, Salehabad, and Sandfly fever Sicilian serocomplexes. Fever has been described in Cyprus and Greece with both sporadic cases and epidemics [3,4,5,6,7] In both countries, the high rates of antibodies observed in seroprevalence studies indicate that viruses belonging to Sandfly fever Naples and Sandfly fever Sicilian serocomplexes are transmitted by local sand flies to human populations [7,8,9,10]. In Greece, in recent sporadic cases of meningitis, (i) TOSV RNA was detected in the CSF of a patient [11], and (ii) viral RNA corresponding to Adria virus, a novel virus belonging to the Salehabad species, was identified in the CSF [12, 13].
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