Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Apr;25(4):287-294.
doi: 10.1089/vbz.2024.0076. Epub 2025 Feb 14.

Serosurveillance Identifies Bourbon Virus-Neutralizing Antibodies in Bobcats, Coyotes, and Red Foxes in Missouri

Gayan Bamunuarachchi  1 , Fernando Najera  2 , Ishmael D Aziati  1 , Jamie L Palmer  2 , Elizabeth G Biro  3 , David Wang  4 , Sharon L Deem  2 , Adrianus C M Boon  1   5   4 , Solny A Adalsteinsson  3
Affiliations

Serosurveillance Identifies Bourbon Virus-Neutralizing Antibodies in Bobcats, Coyotes, and Red Foxes in Missouri

Gayan Bamunuarachchi et al. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2025 Apr.

Abstract

Background: Bourbon virus (BRBV) is an emerging pathogen that can cause severe and fatal disease in humans. BRBV is vectored by Amblyomma americanum (lone star ticks), which are widely distributed across the central, southern, and eastern United States. Wildlife species are potentially important for the maintenance and transmission of BRBV, but little is known about which species are involved, and what other factors play a role in their exposure to BRBV. Methods: To assess the exposure risk to BRBV among wildlife in the St. Louis, Missouri, area, we collected sera from 98 individuals, representing 6 different mammalian species from two locations in St. Louis County: Tyson Research Center (TRC) and WildCare Park (WCP) from fall 2021 to spring 2023. The sera were used in a BRBV neutralization assay to detect neutralizing antibodies and RT-qPCR for viral RNA analysis. We also sampled and compared the abundance of A. americanum ticks at the two locations and modeled which factors influenced BRBV seropositivity across species. Results: In TRC, we observed a high rate of seropositivity in raccoons (Procyon lotor, 23/25), and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus, 18/27), but a low rate in opossums (Didelphis virginiana, 1/18). Neutralizing antibodies were also detected in sampled TRC bobcats (Lynx rufus, 4/4), coyotes (Canis latrans, 3/3), and a red fox (Vulpes vulpes, 1/1). The virological analysis did not detect BRBV RNA in any serum samples. In contrast to TRC, all sera screened from WCP were negative for BRBV-specific neutralizing antibodies, and significantly fewer ticks were collected at WCP (31) compared with TRC (2316). Conclusions: Collectively, these findings suggest that BRBV circulates in multiple wildlife species in the St. Louis area and that tick density and host community composition may be important factors in BRBV ecology.

Keywords: Bourbon virus; serosurveillance; tick-borne virus ecology; wildlife host.

PubMed Disclaimer

Update of

References

    1. Aziati ID, McFarland D, Antia A, et al. Prevalence of Bourbon and Heartland viruses in field collected ticks at an environmental field station in St. Louis County, Missouri, USA. Ticks Tick Borne Dis 2023;14(1):102080; doi: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2022.102080 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bajwa W, Kennedy A, Vincent Z, et al. Earliest records of the Asian longhorned tick (Acari: Ixodidae) in Staten Island, New York, and subsequent population establishment, with a review of its potential medical and veterinary importance in the United States. J Med Entomol 2024;61(3):764–771. - PubMed
    1. Bamunuarachchi G, Harastani H, Rothlauf PW, et al. Detection of bourbon virus-specific serum neutralizing antibodies in human serum in Missouri, USA. mSphere 2022;7(3):e0016422; doi: 10.1128/mSphere.00164-22 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bricker TL, Shafiuddin M, Gounder AP, et al. Therapeutic efficacy of Favipiravir against Bourbon virus in mice. PLoS Pathog 2019;15(6):e1007790; doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1007790 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Burnham KP, Anderson DR. Model Selection and Multimodel Inference: A Practical Information-Theoretic Approach. Springer-Verlag, New York, 2002.

Publication types

Supplementary concepts

LinkOut - more resources