Mosquito-Independent Transmission of West Nile virus in Farmed Saltwater Crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus).

ABSTRACT: West Nile virus, Kunjin strain (WNV_KUN) is endemic in Northern Australia, but rarely causes clinical disease in humans and horses. Recently, WNV_KUN genomic material was detected in cutaneous lesions of farmed saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus), but live virus could not be isolated, begging the question of the pathogenesis of these lesions. Crocodile hatchlings were experimentally infected with either 10⁵ (n = 10) or 10⁴ (n = 11) TCID₅₀-doses of WNV_KUN and each group co-housed with six uninfected hatchlings in a mosquito-free facility. Seven hatchlings were mock-infected and housed separately. Each crocodile was rotationally examined and blood-sampled every third day over a 3-week period. Eleven an

SUBMITTER: Habarugira G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7077242 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature