Nordström, Åke
- Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Research article2017Peer reviewed
Distribution and seasonal variation of ljungan virus in bank voles (Myodes glareolus) in Fennoscandia
Fevola, Cristina; Rossi, Chiara; Rosa, Roberto; Nordstrom, Ake; Ecke, Frauke; Magnusson, Magnus; Miller, Andrea L.; Niemimaa, Jukka; Olsson, Gert E.; Jaaskelainen, Anne J.; Hornfeldt, Birger; Henttonen, Heikki; Hauffe, Heidi C.
Abstract
Ljungan virus (LV) is a picornavirus originally isolated from Swedish bank voles (Myodes glareolus) in 1998. The association of LV with human disease has been debated ever since, but fundamental data on the ecology of the virus are still lacking. Here we present results of the first intensive study on the prevalence of LV in bank voles trapped in Fennoscandia (Sweden and Finland) from 2009-12 as determined by PCR. Using an LV-specific real-time reverse transcriptase PCR, LV was detected in the liver of 73 out of 452 (16.2%) individuals and in 13 out of 17 sampling sites across Sweden and Finland (mean per site prevalence 16%, SE 3%, range 0-50%). We found more infected animals in autumn compared to spring, and lighter and heavier individuals had a higher prevalence than those with intermediate body masses. The result that LV prevalence is also lower in heavier (i.e., older) animals suggests for the first time that LV infection is not persistent in rodents.
Keywords
Finland; Parechovirus B; picornavirus; prevalence; rodent-borne virus; real-time reverse transcriptase PCR; Sweden
Published in
Journal of Wildlife Diseases
2017, Volume: 53, number: 3, pages: 552-560
Publisher: WILDLIFE DISEASE ASSOC, INC
Ecke, Frauke
- Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Magnusson, Magnus
- Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Miller, Andrea
- Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Olsson, Gert
- Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Hörnfeldt, Birger
- Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
SLU Authors
UKÄ Subject classification
Infectious Medicine
Publication identifier
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7589/2016-06-145
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/92654