Genome sequence analysis of the first human West Nile virus isolated in Italy in 2009

L Barzon; E Franchin; L Squarzon; E Lavezzo; S Toppo; T Martello; S Bressan; S Pagni; M Cattai; A Piazza; M Pacenti; R Cusinato; G Palù

doi:10.2807/ese.14.44.19384-en

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Genome sequence analysis of the first human West Nile virus isolated in Italy in 2009
L Barzon^1,2 , E Franchin^1,2 , L Squarzon^1,2 , E Lavezzo¹ , S Toppo³ , T Martello¹ , S Bressan¹ , S Pagni^1,2 , M Cattai² , A Piazza² , M Pacenti² , R Cusinato² , G Palù^1,2
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Affiliations: ¹ Department of Histology, Microbiology, and Medical Biotechnologies, University of Padua, Padua, Italy ² Regional Reference Centre for Infectious Diseases, Microbiology and Virology Unit, Azienda Ospedaliera di Padova, Padua, Italy ³ Department of Biological Chemistry, University of Padua, Padua, Italy

Correspondence:
G Palù
giorgio.palu unipd.it

Correspondence: G Palù
giorgio.palu unipd.it
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Citation style for this article: Barzon L, Franchin E, Squarzon L, Lavezzo E, Toppo S, Martello T, Bressan S, Pagni S, Cattai M, Piazza A, Pacenti M, Cusinato R, Palù G. Genome sequence analysis of the first human West Nile virus isolated in Italy in 2009. Euro Surveill. 2009;14(44):pii=19384. https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.14.44.19384-en Received: 14 Oct 2009

Abstract

In 2009, six new human cases of West Nile neuroinvasive disease (WNND) were identified in Veneto region, following the six cases already reported in 2008. A human West Nile virus (WNV) isolate was obtained for the first time from an asymptomatic blood donor. Whole genome sequence of the human WNV isolate showed close phylogenetic relatedness to the Italy-1998-WNV strain and to other WNV strains recently isolated in Europe, with the new acquisition of the NS3-Thr249Pro mutation, a trait associated with avian virulence, increased virus transmission, and the occurrence of outbreaks in humans.