Rodents as sentinels for the prevalence of tick-borne encephalitis virus.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) causes one of the most important flavivirus infections of the central nervous system, affecting humans in Europe and Asia. It is mainly transmitted by the bite of an infected tick and circulates among them and their vertebrate hosts. Until now, TBE risk analysis in Germany has been based on the incidence of human cases. Because of an increasing vaccination rate, this approach might be misleading, especially in regions of low virus circulation.

Method

To test the suitability of rodents as a surrogate marker for virus spread, laboratory-bred Microtus arvalis voles were experimentally infected with TBEV and analyzed over a period of 100 days by real-time (RT)-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Further, the prevalence of TBE

SUBMITTER: Achazi K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3115460 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature