The Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes ) as Sentinel for Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus in Endemic and Non-Endemic Areas

Microorganisms
Maja HautMartin Pfeffer

Abstract

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is one of the most important viral zoonosis caused by a neurotropic arbovirus (TBEV). In Germany, TBE is classified as a notifiable disease with an average of 350 autochthonous human cases annually. The incidence-based risk assessment in Germany came under criticism because every year, a number of autochthonous human TBE cases have been detected outside of the official risk areas. Therefore, it is necessary to find additional parameters to strengthen TBEV surveillance. The aim of this study was to examine red foxes as sentinels for TBE. Thus far, there are no published data about the sensitivity and specificity for serological methods testing fox samples. Hence, we aimed to define a system for the screening of TBEV-specific antibodies in red foxes. A total of 1233 fox sera were collected and examined by ELISA and IIFA and confirmed by micro-NT. The overall seroprevalence of antibodies against TBEV in red foxes from Germany confirmed by micro-NT was 21.1%. The seroprevalence differed significantly between risk (30.5%) and non-risk areas (13.1%), with good correlations to local TBE incidence in humans. In conclusion, serological monitoring of red foxes represents a promising surrogate marker system a...Continue Reading

References

Oct 1, 1995·Epidemiology and Infection·H J GerthC Kunz
Oct 26, 2000·Journal of Veterinary Medicine. B, Infectious Diseases and Veterinary Public Health·R WurmS T Kiessig
Apr 9, 2005·Vector Borne and Zoonotic Diseases·W H M van der PoelF H M Borgsteede
May 15, 2008·Viral Immunology·John T RoehrigAlan D T Barrett
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Aug 17, 2010·International Journal of Health Geographics·Christian KiffnerFerdinand Rühe
Jul 6, 2011·Experimental & Applied Acarology·Vincenzo LorussoDomenico Otranto
Jun 16, 2012·Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift·Gerhard DoblerMartin Pfeffer
Aug 13, 2014·Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases·Anneliese BallingMartin Pfeffer
May 26, 2015·Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases·Maren ImhoffMatthias Niedrig
Sep 19, 2017·Infection, Genetics and Evolution : Journal of Molecular Epidemiology and Evolutionary Genetics in Infectious Diseases·S Y Kovalev, T A Mukhacheva
Apr 25, 2018·Emerging Microbes & Infections·Xiaoyi DaiJianguo Xu

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
ELISA
Assay

Software Mentioned

SPSS Statistics

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