Distribution and Genotypic Landscape of Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus in Ticks from Latvia from 2019 to 2023.

IF 3.3 3区医学 Q2 MICROBIOLOGY

Pathogens Pub Date : 2025-09-22 DOI:10.3390/pathogens14090950

Lidia Chitimia-Dobler, Gerhard Dobler, Daniel Lang, Antra Bormane, Renate Ranka, Sabine Schaper, Zane Freimane, Dace Zavadska

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Ticks are important parasites of economic and public health because of their ability to transmit zoonotic diseases. Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), now officially Orthoflavivirus encephalitidis, is a Flavivirus with five main subtypes of which three, the European (TBEV-EU), the Siberian (TBEV-Sib), and the Far-Eastern subtypes (TBEV-FE), are supposedly circulate in Latvia. Several hard tick species are involved in TBEV circulation and transmission in nature. This study set out to describe the genetic landscape of TBEV subtypes in Latvian tick populations. In 2019 and 2021 to 2023, a total of 3026 ticks were collected in three Latvian regions, with Ixodes ricinus as the dominant species (2822 specimens), followed by Ixodes persulcatus (200 specimens) and Dermacentor reticulatus (4 specimens). Ticks were morphologically identified, pooled, and screened for TBEV RNA by RT-qPCR. TBEV of positive tick pools were isolated and genetically characterized by genome sequencing. Our study demonstrates the prevalence of two TBEV subtypes in Latvia with specific spatial patterning. In the sympatric Vidzeme region, these subtypes display a preferential species association of TBEV-EU with Ixodes ricinus and TBEV-Sib with Ixodes persulcatus. Phylogeographic analysis suggests independent introductions of multiple genotypes from both subtypes. Further investigations are necessary to better understand the natural transmission and the medical importance of these TBEVs.

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2019 - 2023年拉脱维亚蜱传脑炎病毒的分布和基因型格局

蜱虫是经济和公共卫生的重要寄生虫，因为它们能够传播人畜共患疾病。蜱传脑炎病毒（TBEV），现在正式称为正黄病毒脑炎，是一种黄病毒，有五种主要亚型，其中三种，即欧洲（TBEV- eu）、西伯利亚（TBEV- sib）和远东亚型（TBEV- fe），据推测在拉脱维亚流行。在自然界中，有几种硬蜱参与了热带病的循环和传播。本研究旨在描述拉脱维亚蜱种群中TBEV亚型的遗传景观。2019年和2021 - 2023年在拉脱维亚3个地区共采集蜱虫3026只，其中蓖麻伊蚊为优势种（2822只），其次是过乳伊蚊（200只）和网状革蜱（4只）。采用RT-qPCR方法对蜱进行形态学鉴定、汇总和筛选TBEV RNA。分离出阳性蜱虫群，通过基因组测序对其进行遗传鉴定。我们的研究表明两种TBEV亚型在拉脱维亚的流行具有特定的空间模式。在同域的Vidzeme区，这些亚型表现出TBEV-EU和TBEV-Sib与Ixodes persulcatus的优先种关联。系统地理分析表明，这两个亚型独立引入了多个基因型。为了更好地了解这些tbev的自然传播和医学重要性，有必要进行进一步的调查。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Pathogens Medicine-Immunology and Allergy

CiteScore

6.40

自引率

8.10%

发文量

1285

审稿时长

17.75 days

期刊介绍： Pathogens (ISSN 2076-0817) publishes reviews, regular research papers and short notes on all aspects of pathogens and pathogen-host interactions. There is no restriction on the length of the papers. Our aim is to encourage scientists to publish their experimental and theoretical research in as much detail as possible. Full experimental and/or methodical details must be provided for research articles.