Detection of novel tick-borne pathogen, Alongshan virus, in Ixodes ricinus ticks, south-eastern Finland, 2019

Suvi Kuivanen; Lev Levanov; Lauri Kareinen; Tarja Sironen; Anne J Jääskeläinen; Ilya Plyusnin; Fathiah Zakham; Petra Emmerich; Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit; Jussi Hepojoki; Teemu Smura; Olli Vapalahti

doi:10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2019.24.27.1900394

Detection of novel tick-borne pathogen, Alongshan virus, in Ixodes ricinus ticks, south-eastern Finland, 2019

Euro Surveill. 2019 Jul;24(27):1900394. doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2019.24.27.1900394.

Authors

Suvi Kuivanen^{1

2}, Lev Levanov^{1

2}, Lauri Kareinen¹, Tarja Sironen^{1

3}, Anne J Jääskeläinen⁴, Ilya Plyusnin³, Fathiah Zakham¹, Petra Emmerich^{5

6}, Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit^{5

7}, Jussi Hepojoki^{1

8}, Teemu Smura^{1

4

2}, Olli Vapalahti^{1

3

4

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Virology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
² Authors contributed equally.
³ Department of Veterinary Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
⁴ Division of Clinical Microbiology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
⁵ Departments of Virology and Arbovirology, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany.
⁶ University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany.
⁷ German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Hamburg, Germany.
⁸ Institute of Veterinary Pathology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.

PMID: 31290392
PMCID: PMC6628756
DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2019.24.27.1900394

Abstract

The newly identified tick-borne Alongshan virus (ALSV), a segmented Jingmen virus group flavivirus, was recently associated with human disease in China. We report the detection of ALSV RNA in Ixodes ricinus ticks in south-eastern Finland. Screening of sera from patients suspected for tick-borne encephalitis for Jingmen tick virus-like virus RNA and antibodies revealed no human cases. The presence of ALSV in common European ticks warrants further investigations on its role as a human pathogen.

Keywords: ALSV; Alongshan virus; Ixodes ricinus; Jingmen tick virus; flavivirus.

MeSH terms

Animals
Base Sequence
Encephalitis Viruses, Tick-Borne / genetics*
Encephalitis Viruses, Tick-Borne / isolation & purification*
Encephalitis, Tick-Borne / virology*
Finland
Humans
Ixodes / virology*
Molecular Sequence Data
Phylogeny
RNA, Viral / analysis
RNA, Viral / genetics*
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
Sequence Analysis
Serum / virology*

Substances

RNA, Viral