Geographic distribution and genetic characterization of poxviruses from human infections in Georgia, 2009-2014

Abstract

Anthrax is endemic in Georgia, as are multiple zoonotic poxviruses. Poxvirus-associated infections share some clinical manifestations and exposure risks with anthrax, and so it is important to distinguish between the two. With this in mind, an archived collection of anthrax-negative DNA samples was retrospectively screened for poxviruses, and of the 148 human samples tested, 64 were positive. Sequence analysis confirmed the presence of orf virus, bovine papular stomatitis virus, and pseudocowpox virus. This study provides evidence of previously unrecognized poxvirus infections in Georgia and highlights the benefit of the timely identification of such infections by improving laboratory capacity.

Fig. 1

Geographic origin of specimens from cases in which anthrax was ruled out that were then tested for the presence of parapoxvirus DNA. Samples were collected from 2009 to 2014.

Fig. 2

a Bayesian inference majority-rules consensus tree. *Indicates branches with 95% or higher Bayesian posterior probability (BPP) values. All study samples group with high statistical support with known parapoxviruses. Branch colors indicate the species of the parapoxviruses: green, Pseudocowpox virus; blue, Orf virus; red, Bovine papular stomatitis virus; gray, Red deerpox virus. Taxon labels for study samples are bolded and written as follows: sample ID—locality. Reference samples are written as follows: species identity_isolate name_GenBank accession number. PCPV pseudocowpox virus, ORF orf virus, BPSV bovine papular stomatitis virus, PVRD parapoxvirus of red deer. b A map of the country of Georgia with localities where the sequenced samples originated labeled and color-coded to match the appropriate species of PPV identified by phylogenetic analysis