rologie i - European Congress of Virology

5 th European Congress of Virologynatural reservoir of influenza A virus, and are likely to play the “mixingvessel” epidemiological role traditionally assigned to domestic pigs. Seroprevalencefor influenza in European wild boar seems to be relatively lowin most published studies, ranging from 0% to 7.8%. In the context ofincreasing populations of wild boars in Europe, the aim of this study wasto determine the apparent seroprevalence of influenza in Belgian wildboars and to identify the potential risk factors associated with seropositivity.We identified foci of high H1 influenza seroprevalence (>45%) inspecific hunting territories. If this high prevalence is the result of recurrenttransmission from domestic pigs or reflects an endemic circulation inlocal wild boar population remains to be determined. Viral isolation andphylogenetic studies would be helpful to answer this question.REF 256Hepatitis e virus (HEV): genetic relationship of the first identifiedhuman strain and swine strains in CroatiaLorena JEMERSIC 1 , Jelena PRPIC 1 , Nenad PANDAK 2 , DraganBRNIC 1 , Oktavija DAKOVIC RODE 3 , Tomislav KEROS 1 , Besi ROIC 1 ,Andreja JUNGIC 1 , Tomislav BEDEKOVIC 1 , Ivana LOJKIC 11 Croatian Veterinary Institute, Zagreb, CROATIA; 2 General HospitalSlavonski Brod, Slavonski Brod, CROATIA; 3 3Universitiy Hospital forInfectious Diseases ”Dr. Fran Mihaljevic”, Zagreb, CROATIAHepatitis E is an important health problem with a possibility of zoonotictransmission through contact with infected animals. Hepatitis E virus(HEV) belongs to the genus Hepevirus, family Hepeviridae. Four HEVgenotypes have been recognized so far. Genetic typing of swine HEVstrains, indicate their close relationship to human HEV strains and provethat swine could be recognised as reservoirs of HEV in nature. The aim ofour study was to investigate the potential genetic relationship of a humanHEV strain identified for the first time in Croatia in a patient showingsigns of acute hepatitis, with strains detected in swine from the samegeographical area. Swine samples (blood, spleen and liver) were collectedfrom different age categories and breeding systems (two large commercialfarms and small farms up to 20 animals). In total, 152 swine were includedin this study. All samples were tested by a nested RT PCR protocol inorder to amplify a fragment within the metil transferase gene. Representativepositive samples including the human HEV strain were sequencedand phylogenetically analysed. HEV RNA was detected in swine samplesshowing a high viral prevalence (31.5%) regardless of the breeding systemor age category. The human and swine RNA sequences clustered into phylogeneticgroup 3 proving their close genetic relationship. However, swinesequences further clustered into subgroup 3a and 3e, whereas the humanHEV strain clustered into subgroup 3f showing the highest similarity witha reference swine strain identified in The Netherlands. Even though ourresults support the fact that swine in Croatia are reservoires of HEV theirtrue role in the chain of viral spread is still unknown. The source of thefirst reported human infection in Croatia still remains unidentified. Weconclude that further epidemiological data is needed, including testing ofswine products.are responsive to West Nile Virus. There have been described the sicknesscases of alligators at crocodile farms, and there have been documentedthe cases of people among the staff of the farms being infected. For thecrocodilians the West Nile Virus is a typical emergent infection. The coldblooded vertebrata may serve as reservoir other dangerous arboviral infections.Mosquitoes of Culicidae family (prevalent in all the continents)that live on the warm blooded animals as well as on the cold bloodedones are a component in the encephalomyelitis viral shedding chain. Newemergent infections pose a serious potential hazard not only to the artificiallycreated reptilian and amphibian populations but also to the naturalones. Reptiles and amphibias turn out to be in the environment of newpathogens after they are taken from their wildlife and trapped. Stress,transportation and inappropriate maintenance conditions result in significantdecrease in immunity which makes animals more vulnerable toinfections. Pathogenic agents can evolve and infect new hosts in whichthey have not been present previously. This may lead to extension of thecausative pathogens of dangerous diseases among responsive animals andpeopleREF 258Screening of Influenza H1N1P antibodies in bats from different geographicalregionsElizanbeth LOZA RUBIO 1 , Edith ROJAS ANAYA 1 , Catalina TUFIÑOLOZA 1 , Oscar RICO 21 INIFAP, CENID Microbiología Animal, Mexico City, MEXICO; 2 FMVZUNAM, Mexico City, MEXICOBats are potentially reservoir of many emergent and re emergent zoonosisall over the world. Mexico has so far 138 species of bats in which antibodieshave been detected against rabies, dengue and swine Rubulavirus.Recently, at least 60 new species of paramyxoviruses have been identifiedin bats. Additionally, it was discovered that some of these paramyxovirusesare genetically similar to those affecting human mankind. Concerning toinfluenza virus, is an Orthomixovirus which affects a wide range of hostsincluding birds and mammals. Following the 2009 outbreak of H1N1, thescientific community has reported the presence of the virus in several species,both domestic and wild. So, it is of interest to conduct studies on thesubject, recently identified as a new hemagglutinin into a bat at two locationsin Guatemala. In our country there are no reports on the presence ofantibodies in bats. The objective of this study was to detect antibodies insera against pandemic in different bats species and geographic region. Wecaught bats in the state of Mexico, Puebla, Hidalgo and Morelos, wheredifferent number of samples was taken (29, 23, 5 and 2, respectively). Serawere analyzed by hemagglutination inhibition test using 4 hemagglutinatingunits (HU). The species tested were Desmodus rotundus, Sturniralilium, Sturnira ludovici, Carollia perspicillata, Pteronotus parneli, Artibeusliteratus, Artibeus intermedius, and Myotis microtis Leptonycterisnivalis. All sera were negative. We conclude that apparently this variantvirus is not circulating in the populations analyzed; however we suggestto sample more individuals.REF 257Research of exotic animals, which are a reservoir of infectious diseases,as a component of biosafetyZinaida KLESTOVA, Irina SAVINOVAThe Institute of Veterinary Medicine NAAS of Ukraine, Kiev, UKRAINEThe question of virus diseases of the cold blooded animals and of theirbeing virus carriers or reservoirs has not been adequately studied yet andis a topic of interest. The representatives of all the reptilian classes mayserve as bridging hosts or reservoirs for different viruses, which mayinfect people, mammals and birds. It has been established that reptilesREF 259Seoul hantavirus in Rattus norvegicus in Lyon, FranceLorraine MCELHINNEY 2,4 , Kieran POUNDER 1 , Denise MARSTON 2 ,Florence AYRAL 3 , Andrew BREED 2 , Michael BEGON 1 , CharlotteFEATHERSTONE 2 , Marc ARTOIS 3 , Anthony FOOKS 2,41 University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UNITED KINGDOM; 2 AnimalHealth and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA), Weybridge, UNI-TED KINGDOM; 3 Université de Lyon, Marcy L’Étoile, FRANCE;4 National Consortium for Zoonosis Research, Leahurst, UNITED KING-DOMVirologie, Vol 17, supplément 2, septembre 2013S191