Lineage 2 West Nile virus as cause of fatal neurologic disease in horses, South Africa

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Authors

Venter, Marietjie
Human, Stacey
Zaayman, Dewald
Gerdes, Gertruida Hermanna
Williams, June Heather
Steyl, Johan Christian Abraham
Leman, Patricia A.
Paweska, Janusz Tadeusz
Setzkorn, Hildegard
Rous, Gavin

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Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Abstract

Serologic evidence suggests that West Nile virus (WNV) is widely distributed in horses in Southern Africa. However, because few neurologic cases have been reported, endemic lineage 2 strains were postulated to be non-pathogenic in horses. Recent evidence suggests that highly neuroinvasive lineage 2 strains exist in humans and mice. To determine whether neurologic cases are being missed in Southern Africa, we tested 80 serum or brain specimens from horses with unexplained fever (n = 48) and/or neurologic signs (n = 32) for WNV. From March 2007 through June 2008, using reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) and immunoglobulin (Ig) M ELISA, we found WNV RNA or IgM in 7/32 horses with acute neurologic disease; 5 horses died or were euthanized. In 5/7 horses, no other pathogen was detected. DNA sequencing for all 5 RT-PCR-positive cases showed the virus belonged to lineage 2. WNV lineage 2 may cause neurologic disease in horses in southern Africa

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Keywords

West Nile virus (WNV), Horse (Equus caballus), Lineage 2, Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), Neurologic disease, Southern Africa

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Citation

Venter, M, Human, S, Zaayman, D, Gerdes, GH, Williams, J, Steyl, J, Leman, PA, Paweska, JT, Setzkorn, H, Rous, G, Murray, S, Parker, R, Donnellan, C, Swanepoel, R 2009, 'Lineage 2 West Nile virus as cause of fatal neurologic disease in horses, South Africa', Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 877-884. [www.cdc.gov/eid]