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. 2020 Oct;25(41):2001732.
doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.41.2001732.

Detection of Usutu virus infection in wild birds in the United Kingdom, 2020

Arran J Folly  1 , Becki Lawson  2 , Fabian Zx Lean  3 , Fiona McCracken  1 , Simon Spiro  4 , Shinto K John  2 , Joseph P Heaver  2 , Katharina Seilern-Moy  2 , Nic Masters  4 , Luis M Hernández-Triana  1 , L Paul Phipps  1 , Alejandro Nuñez  3 , Anthony R Fooks  1 , Andrew A Cunningham  2 , Nicholas Johnson  1 , Lorraine M McElhinney  1
Affiliations

Detection of Usutu virus infection in wild birds in the United Kingdom, 2020

Arran J Folly et al. Euro Surveill. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

In August 2020, as part of a long-term disease surveillance programme, Usutu virus was detected in five Eurasian blackbirds (Turdus merula) and one house sparrow (Passer domesticus) from Greater London, England. This was initially detected by reverse transcription-PCR and was confirmed by virus isolation and by immunohistochemical detection of flavivirus in tissues. Phylogenetic analysis identified Usutu virus African 3.2 lineage, which is prevalent in the Netherlands and Belgium, suggesting a potential incursion from mainland Europe.

Keywords: Emerging Infectious Diseases; Flaviviridae; Passerine birds; Usutu virus; Vector Borne Disease; Zoonosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Detection of flavivirus envelope antigen in blackbird (Turdus merula) and house sparrow (Passer domesticus) using immunohistochemistry on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue sections, United Kingdom, 2020
Figure 2
Figure 2
Bayesian phylogenetic tree of a de novo assembled USUV lineage from an infected blackbird (Turdus merula), United Kingdom, 2020
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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