Zoonotic Viruses in Three Species of Voles from Poland.

Maciej Grzybek,Jerzy M Behnke,Jolanta Behnke-Borowczyk,Antti Vaheri,Beata Biernat,Joanna Nowicka,Anna Bajer,Katarzyna Tołkacz,Mohammed Alsarraf,Heikki Henttonen,Sanna Mäki,Tarja Sironen

doi:10.3390/ani10101820

Abstract

Simple SummaryWild rodents constitute a significant threat to public health. We tested 77 voles from northeastern Poland for the presence of antibodies to hantaviruses, arenaviruses and cowpox viruses. We report 18.2% overall seroprevalence of zoonotic viruses. Our results contribute to knowledge about the role of Polish voles as possible reservoirs of viral infections.Rodents are known to be reservoir hosts for a plethora of zoonotic viruses and therefore play a significant role in the dissemination of these pathogens. We trapped three vole species (Microtus arvalis, Alexandromys oeconomus and Microtus agrestis) in northeastern Poland, all of which are widely distributed species in Europe. Using immunofluorescence assays, we assessed serum samples for the presence of antibodies to hantaviruses, arenaviruses and cowpox viruses (CPXV). We detected antibodies against CPXV and Puumala hantavirus (PUUV), the overall seroprevalence of combined viral infections being 18.2% [10.5–29.3] and mostly attributed to CPXV. We detected only one PUUV/TULV cross-reaction in Microtus arvalis (1.3% [0.1–7.9]), but found similar levels of antibodies against CPXV in all three vole species. There were no significant differences in seroprevalence of CPXV among host species and age categories, nor between the sexes. These results contribute to our understanding of the distribution and abundance of CPXV in voles in Europe, and confirm that CPXV circulates also in Microtus and Alexandromys voles in northeastern Poland.

Highlights

The identification of possible hosts, and the study of transmission dynamics in their populations, are both crucial steps in controlling zoonotic diseases [1,2]
We screened a total of 77 Microtus and Alexandromys spp. serum samples for the presence of mammarena, orthopox- and hantavirus antibodies
We report a high overall seroprevalence of two common viral infections, mostly cowpox viruses (CPXV) (18.2%) in voles from northeastern Poland

Summary

Introduction

The identification of possible hosts, and the study of transmission dynamics in their populations, are both crucial steps in controlling zoonotic diseases [1,2]. The most widespread and abundant mammals, are considered to be a significant source of zoonotic pathogens [1,3]. Studies of the population dynamics of wild rodents have demonstrated that European rodent populations experience multiannual and cyclic density fluctuations [4,5]. This has been linked with variation in the incidence of zoonoses spread by rodents [4,5]. Rodent-borne hanta-, mammarena- and orthopox viral pathogens are maintained in nature by direct intraspecies, or, as probably is the case with cowpox virus (CPXV), interspecies transmission from rodent to rodent without the participation of arthropod vectors. Transmission among rodents occurs by contact with body fluids or excretions [6,7,8,9]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion