Arboviruses in the Astrakhan region of Russia for 2018 season: The development of multiplex PCR assays and analysis of mosquitoes, ticks, and human blood sera

• DOI: 10.1016/j.meegid.2021.104711
• Publication Date: 2021-01-10T01:11:24Z
• Authors: Maria A. Nikiforova; Nadezhda A. Kuzne...; Alexey M. Shchetinin; Alexander M. Butenko; Alina A. Kozlova; Viktor P. Larichev; Elena V. Vakalova; Alla R. Azarian; Oleg V. Rubalsky; Olga A. Bashkina; Artem P. Tkachuk; Vladimir A. Gushchin; Alexander L. Gint...
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 0303 health sciences; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; Uukuniemi virus; Encephalitis Virus, California; Genome, Viral; Arbovirus Infections; Russia; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; Culicidae; Ticks; Hemorrhagic Fever Virus, Crimean-Congo; Animals; Humans; RNA, Viral; Bunyamwera virus; Sindbis Virus; Pathology, Molecular; Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction; Thogotovirus; West Nile virus; Arboviruses; Phylogeny

The Astrakhan region of Russia is endemic for the number of arboviruses. In this paper, we describe the results of the detection of the list of neglected arboviruses in the Astrakhan region for the 2018 season. For the purpose of the study in-house PCR assays for detection of 18 arboviruses have been developed and validated using arboviruses obtained from Russian State Collection of Viruses. Pools of ticks (n = 463) and mosquitoes (n = 312) as well as 420 samples of human patients sera have been collected and analyzed. Using developed multiplex real-time PCR assays we were able to detect RNA of eight arboviruses (Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, Dhori (Batken strain) virus, Batai virus, Tahyna virus, Uukuniemi virus, Inkoo virus, Sindbis virus and West Nile fever virus). All discovered viruses are capable of infecting humans causing fever and in some cases severe forms with hemorrhagic or neurologic symptoms. From PCR-positive samples, we were able to recover one isolate each of Dhori (Batken strain) virus and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus which were further characterized by next-generation sequencing. The genomic sequences of identified Dhori (Batken strain) virus strain represent the most complete genome of Batken virus strain among previously reported.