Usutu Virus Infections Among Blood Donors, Austria, July and August 2017 - Raising Awareness for Diagnostic Challenges

Overview

Journal Euro Surveill

Specialty Infectious Diseases

Date 2017 Oct 19

PMID 29043962

Citations 44

Authors

Tamas Bakonyi

Christof Jungbauer

Stephan W Aberle

Jolanta Kolodziejek

Katharina Dimmel

Karin Stiasny

Franz Allerberger

Norbert Nowotny

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Between July and August 2017, seven of 12,047 blood donations from eastern Austria, reacted positive to West Nile virus (WNV) in the cobas test (Roche). Follow-up investigations revealed Usutu virus (USUV) nucleic acid in six of these. Retrospective analyses of four blood donors diagnosed as WNV-infected in 2016 showed one USUV positive. Blood transfusion services and public health authorities in USUV-endemic areas should be aware of a possible increase of human USUV infections.

Citing Articles

Assessment of the effectiveness of West Nile virus screening by analysing suspected positive donations among blood donors, Germany, 2020 to 2023.

Orru S, Reissinger A, Filomena A, Heitmann A, Funk M, Schmidt-Chanasit J Euro Surveill. 2025; 30(8).

PMID: 40017391 PMC: 11869365. DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2025.30.8.2400373.

Epidemiology and Ecology of Usutu Virus Infection and Its Global Risk Distribution.

Chen J, Zhang Y, Zhang X, Zhang M, Yin X, Zhang L Viruses. 2024; 16(10).

PMID: 39459938 PMC: 11512428. DOI: 10.3390/v16101606.

An amplicon-based sequencing approach for Usutu virus characterization.

Ndione M, Diagne M, Mencattelli G, Diallo A, Ndiaye E, Di Domenico M Virol J. 2024; 21(1):163.

PMID: 39044231 PMC: 11267690. DOI: 10.1186/s12985-024-02426-7.

Circulation of West Nile Virus and Usutu Virus in Europe: Overview and Challenges.

Simonin Y Viruses. 2024; 16(4).

PMID: 38675940 PMC: 11055060. DOI: 10.3390/v16040599.

Reconstruction of the molecular evolution of Usutu virus in Germany: Insights into virus emersion and circulation.

Bergmann F, Holicki C, Michel F, Bock S, Scuda N, Priemer G PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2023; 17(10):e0011203.

PMID: 37782665 PMC: 10569574. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0011203.

References

Grottola A, Marcacci M, Tagliazucchi S, Gennari W, Di Gennaro A, Orsini M . Usutu virus infections in humans: a retrospective analysis in the municipality of Modena, Italy. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2016; 23(1):33-37. DOI: 10.1016/j.cmi.2016.09.019. View

Cavrini F, Gaibani P, Longo G, Pierro A, Rossini G, Bonilauri P . Usutu virus infection in a patient who underwent orthotropic liver transplantation, Italy, August-September 2009. Euro Surveill. 2010; 14(50). View

Salinas S, Constant O, Desmetz C, Barthelemy J, Lemaitre J, Milhavet O . Deleterious effect of Usutu virus on human neural cells. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2017; 11(9):e0005913. PMC: 5600396. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005913. View

Pecorari M, Longo G, Gennari W, Grottola A, Sabbatini A, Tagliazucchi S . First human case of Usutu virus neuroinvasive infection, Italy, August-September 2009. Euro Surveill. 2010; 14(50). View

Manarolla G, Bakonyi T, Gallazzi D, Crosta L, Weissenbock H, Dorrestein G . Usutu virus in wild birds in northern Italy. Vet Microbiol. 2009; 141(1-2):159-63. DOI: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2009.07.036. View

Bakonyi T, Erdelyi K, Brunthaler R, Dan A, Weissenbock H, Nowotny N . Usutu virus, Austria and Hungary, 2010-2016. Emerg Microbes Infect. 2017; 6(10):e85. PMC: 5658768. DOI: 10.1038/emi.2017.72. View

Weissenbock H, Kolodziejek J, Url A, Lussy H, Rebel-Bauder B, Nowotny N . Emergence of Usutu virus, an African mosquito-borne flavivirus of the Japanese encephalitis virus group, central Europe. Emerg Infect Dis. 2002; 8(7):652-6. PMC: 2730324. DOI: 10.3201/eid0807.020094. View

Kolodziejek J, Marinov M, Kiss B, Alexe V, Nowotny N . The complete sequence of a West Nile virus lineage 2 strain detected in a Hyalomma marginatum marginatum tick collected from a song thrush (Turdus philomelos) in eastern Romania in 2013 revealed closest genetic relationship to strain Volgograd 2007. PLoS One. 2014; 9(10):e109905. PMC: 4184904. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0109905. View

Bakonyi T, Erdelyi K, Ursu K, Ferenczi E, Csorgo T, Lussy H . Emergence of Usutu virus in Hungary. J Clin Microbiol. 2007; 45(12):3870-4. PMC: 2168571. DOI: 10.1128/JCM.01390-07. View

10.

Cadar D, Maier P, Muller S, Kress J, Chudy M, Bialonski A . Blood donor screening for West Nile virus (WNV) revealed acute Usutu virus (USUV) infection, Germany, September 2016. Euro Surveill. 2017; 22(14). PMC: 5388121. DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2017.22.14.30501. View

11.

Jost H, Bialonski A, Maus D, Sambri V, Eiden M, Groschup M . Isolation of usutu virus in Germany. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2011; 85(3):551-3. PMC: 3163883. DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.2011.11-0248. View

12.

Cadar D, Luhken R, van der Jeugd H, Garigliany M, Ziegler U, Keller M . Widespread activity of multiple lineages of Usutu virus, western Europe, 2016. Euro Surveill. 2017; 22(4). PMC: 5388094. DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2017.22.4.30452. View

13.

Steinmetz H, Bakonyi T, Weissenbock H, Hatt J, Eulenberger U, Robert N . Emergence and establishment of Usutu virus infection in wild and captive avian species in and around Zurich, Switzerland--genomic and pathologic comparison to other central European outbreaks. Vet Microbiol. 2010; 148(2-4):207-12. DOI: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2010.09.018. View

14.

Hubalek Z, Rudolf I, capek M, Bakonyi T, Betasova L, Nowotny N . Usutu virus in blackbirds (Turdus merula), Czech Republic, 2011-2012. Transbound Emerg Dis. 2012; 61(3):273-6. DOI: 10.1111/tbed.12025. View

15.

Bakonyi T, Gould E, Kolodziejek J, Weissenbock H, Nowotny N . Complete genome analysis and molecular characterization of Usutu virus that emerged in Austria in 2001: comparison with the South African strain SAAR-1776 and other flaviviruses. Virology. 2004; 328(2):301-10. DOI: 10.1016/j.virol.2004.08.005. View

16.

Lecollinet S, Blanchard Y, Manson C, Lowenski S, Laloy E, Quenault H . Dual Emergence of Usutu Virus in Common Blackbirds, Eastern France, 2015. Emerg Infect Dis. 2016; 22(12):2225. PMC: 5189168. DOI: 10.3201/eid2212.161272. View

17.

Nikolay B . A review of West Nile and Usutu virus co-circulation in Europe: how much do transmission cycles overlap?. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2015; 109(10):609-18. DOI: 10.1093/trstmh/trv066. View

18.

Gaibani P, Pierro A, Cavrini F, Rossini G, Landini M, Sambri V . False-positive transcription-mediated amplification assay detection of West Nile virus in blood from a patient with viremia caused by an Usutu virus infection. J Clin Microbiol. 2010; 48(9):3338-9. PMC: 2937697. DOI: 10.1128/JCM.02501-09. View

19.

Weissenbock H, Bakonyi T, Rossi G, Mani P, Nowotny N . Usutu virus, Italy, 1996. Emerg Infect Dis. 2013; 19(2):274-7. PMC: 3559058. DOI: 10.3201/eid1902.121191. View

20.

Calzolari M, Chiapponi C, Bonilauri P, Lelli D, Baioni L, Barbieri I . Co-circulation of two Usutu virus strains in Northern Italy between 2009 and 2014. Infect Genet Evol. 2017; 51:255-262. DOI: 10.1016/j.meegid.2017.03.022. View