West Nile Virus and Usutu Virus: A Post-Mortem Monitoring Study in Wild Birds from Rescue Centers, Central Italy
Giuseppe Giglia,
Giulia Mencattelli,
Elvio Lepri,
Gianfilippo Agliani,
Marco Gobbi,
Andrea Gröne,
Judith M. A. van den Brand,
Giovanni Savini,
Maria Teresa Mandara
Affiliations
Giuseppe Giglia
Division of Pathology, Department of Biomolecular Health Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, 3584 CL Utrecht, The Netherlands
Giulia Mencattelli
OIE National Reference Center for West Nile Disease, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale, dell’Abruzzo e Molise “G. Caporale”, 64100 Teramo, Italy
Elvio Lepri
Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, 06126 Perugia, Italy
Gianfilippo Agliani
Division of Pathology, Department of Biomolecular Health Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, 3584 CL Utrecht, The Netherlands
Marco Gobbi
Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, 06126 Perugia, Italy
Andrea Gröne
Division of Pathology, Department of Biomolecular Health Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, 3584 CL Utrecht, The Netherlands
Judith M. A. van den Brand
Division of Pathology, Department of Biomolecular Health Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, 3584 CL Utrecht, The Netherlands
Giovanni Savini
OIE National Reference Center for West Nile Disease, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale, dell’Abruzzo e Molise “G. Caporale”, 64100 Teramo, Italy
Maria Teresa Mandara
Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, 06126 Perugia, Italy
West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV) are mosquito-borne flaviviruses that have been associated with neurological diseases in humans and wild birds. Wild bird rescue centers are potential significant hot spots for avian infection surveillance, as recognized in the Italian Integrate National Surveillance Plan for Arboviruses. Here we report the results of a post-mortem active monitoring study conducted from November 2017 to October 2020 on animals hosted in five wild bird rescue centers of Central Italy. Five hundred seventy-six (n = 576) wild birds were tested by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for the presence of WNV or USUV RNA fragments. No birds tested positive for USUV RNA (n = 0; 0.00%). Evidence of WNV RNA (Ct value = 34.36) was found in one bird (n = 1; 0.17%), an adult little grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis subsp. ruficollis), that tested WNV positive in December 2019. This study highlights the strategic role of wildlife rescue centers in monitoring both the introduction and circulation of avian emerging zoonotic diseases. In addition, the presence of WNV during the cold season evidences the possible role of birds in overwintering mechanisms in the Italian territory and requires further investigations.
