TY - JOUR
T1 - First detection of the west nile virus koutango lineage in sandflies in Niger
AU - Fall, Gamou
AU - Diallo, Diawo
AU - Soumaila, Hadiza
AU - Ndiaye, El Hadji
AU - Lagare, Adamou
AU - Sadio, Bacary Djilocalisse
AU - Ndione, Marie Henriette Dior
AU - Wiley, Michael
AU - Dia, Moussa
AU - Diop, Mamadou
AU - Ba, Arame
AU - Sidikou, Fati
AU - Ngoy, Bienvenu Baruani
AU - Faye, Oumar
AU - Testa, Jean
AU - Loucoubar, Cheikh
AU - Sall, Amadou Alpha
AU - Diallo, Mawlouth
AU - Faye, Ousmane
N1 - Funding Information:
The field investigations in Niger were funded by WHO AFRO and the laboratory work was funded by Institut Pasteur de Dakar. This research received no external funding.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 World Health Organization; Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/3
Y1 - 2021/3
N2 - West Nile virus (WNV), belonging to the Flaviviridae family, causes a mosquito-borne disease and shows great genetic diversity, with at least eight different lineages. The Koutango lineage of WNV (WN-KOUTV), mostly associated with ticks and rodents in the wild, is exclusively present in Africa and shows evidence of infection in humans and high virulence in mice. In 2016, in a context of Rift Valley fever (RVF) outbreak in Niger, mosquitoes, biting midges and sandflies were collected for arbovirus isolation using cell culture, immunofluorescence and RT-PCR assays. Whole genome sequencing and in vivo replication studies using mice were later conducted on positive samples. The WN-KOUTV strain was detected in a sandfly pool. The sequence analyses and replication studies confirmed that this strain belonged to the WN-KOUTV lineage and caused 100% mortality of mice. Further studies should be done to assess what genetic traits of WN-KOUTV influence this very high virulence in mice. In addition, given the risk of WN-KOUTV to infect humans, the possi-bility of multiple vectors as well as birds as reservoirs of WNV, to spread the virus beyond Africa, and the increasing threats of flavivirus infections in the world, it is important to understand the potential of WN-KOUTV to emerge.
AB - West Nile virus (WNV), belonging to the Flaviviridae family, causes a mosquito-borne disease and shows great genetic diversity, with at least eight different lineages. The Koutango lineage of WNV (WN-KOUTV), mostly associated with ticks and rodents in the wild, is exclusively present in Africa and shows evidence of infection in humans and high virulence in mice. In 2016, in a context of Rift Valley fever (RVF) outbreak in Niger, mosquitoes, biting midges and sandflies were collected for arbovirus isolation using cell culture, immunofluorescence and RT-PCR assays. Whole genome sequencing and in vivo replication studies using mice were later conducted on positive samples. The WN-KOUTV strain was detected in a sandfly pool. The sequence analyses and replication studies confirmed that this strain belonged to the WN-KOUTV lineage and caused 100% mortality of mice. Further studies should be done to assess what genetic traits of WN-KOUTV influence this very high virulence in mice. In addition, given the risk of WN-KOUTV to infect humans, the possi-bility of multiple vectors as well as birds as reservoirs of WNV, to spread the virus beyond Africa, and the increasing threats of flavivirus infections in the world, it is important to understand the potential of WN-KOUTV to emerge.
KW - High virulence
KW - Koutango lineage
KW - Niger
KW - Sandflies
KW - West Nile virus
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U2 - 10.3390/pathogens10030257
DO - 10.3390/pathogens10030257
M3 - Article
C2 - 33668365
AN - SCOPUS:85102272973
VL - 10
SP - 1
EP - 12
JO - Pathogens
JF - Pathogens
SN - 2076-0817
IS - 3
M1 - 257
ER -