Abstract
Human encephalitis represents a medical challenge from a diagnostic and therapeutic point of view. We investigated the cause of 2 fatal cases of encephalitis of unknown origin in immunocompromised patients. Untargeted metatranscriptomics was applied on the brain tissue of 2 patients to search for pathogens (viruses, bacteria, fungi, or protozoans) without a prior hypothesis. Umbre arbovirus, an orthobunyavirus never previously identified in humans, was found in 2 patients. In situ hybridization and reverse transcriptase-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) showed that Umbre virus infected neurons and replicated at high titers. The virus was not detected in cerebrospinal fluid by RT-qPCR. Viral sequences related to Koongol virus, another orthobunyavirus close to Umbre virus, were found in Culex pipiens mosquitoes captured in the south of France where the patients had spent some time before the onset of symptoms, demonstrating the presence of the same clade of arboviruses in Europe and their potential public health impact. A serological survey conducted in the same area did not identify individuals positive for Umbre virus. The absence of seropositivity in the population may not reflect the actual risk of disease tran...Continue Reading
References
Oct 1, 1979·The Australian Journal of Experimental Biology and Medical Science·R L DohertyC L Frazier
Feb 1, 1963·The Australian Journal of Experimental Biology and Medical Science·R L DOHERTYE N MARKS
Nov 17, 2006·Clinical Infectious Diseases : an Official Publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America·C A GlaserJ H Tureen
Sep 15, 2009·Tropical Medicine & International Health : TM & IH·Sok TouchJohn Grundy
Jul 19, 2013·Clinical Infectious Diseases : an Official Publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America·A VenkatesanUNKNOWN International Encephalitis Consortium
Oct 1, 2012·Hospital Pediatrics·Ansley MillerSheri A Denslow
Jan 22, 2015·Viruses·Usama AshrafShengbo Cao
Nov 27, 2015·The Lancet Infectious Diseases·Audrey Dubot-PérèsXavier de Lamballerie
Nov 28, 2015·Viruses·Alexey M ShchetininSergey V Alkhovsky
May 26, 2016·Neurotherapeutics : the Journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics·Hamid SalimiRobyn S Klein
Aug 3, 2016·Annual Review of Virology·Walter J Tabachnick
May 16, 2017·Clinical Microbiology and Infection : the Official Publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases·A MaillesK C Bloch
Jun 20, 2017·Annals of Neurology·Michael R WilsonJoseph L DeRisi
Feb 23, 2019·Nature Communications·Jan HellertFélix A Rey
May 21, 2019·Emerging Infectious Diseases·Vilmos PalyaKrisztián Bányai