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A 4-Year Study of a Natural Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus Focus in Hungary, 2010–2013

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Abstract

A tick-borne encephalitis virus focus was identified in a former goat pasture that had been associated with a milk-borne encephalitis outbreak in 2007. Ticks and rodents were sampled monthly from April 2010 to October 2013 on two separate 0.5 ha sampling sites. At site 1, three tick-borne encephalitis virus strains were isolated from a total of 7,247 sampled ticks; 28 of the 539 tested sera (5.19%) were seropositive. At site 2, from the 2,369 sampled ticks, virus was not isolated, tests of 284 rodent sera resulted in 14 positives (4.93%). For survival, the virus needs a territory with continuously dense rodent and tick population, although observed TBEV prevalence was low both in ticks and in rodents. Sampling points of positive ticks and rodents did not coincided exactly, at a certain time only some m2 territory is dangerous, these hot spots change unpredictably as positive ticks die or move on with their hosts.

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Acknowledgments

The study was financed by the Hungarian National Research Grant OTKA K 81258 and K 103937. We thank Szabolcs Ádámszki, Balázs Markó and Gyula Takács for their work on the field, and for family Rákóczi for the wide variety of support in field work. The authors would like to thank Ágnes Hajdu for many useful discussions and critical reading of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Vector and Public Health Pest Control, National Center for Epidemiology, Albert Flórián út 2-6, 1097, Budapest, Hungary

    Viktor Zöldi

  2. Institute for Veterinary Medical Research, Centre for Agricultural Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary

    Tibor Papp & László Egyed

  3. Department of Parasitology and Zoology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Szent István University, Budapest, Hungary

    Krisztina Rigó

  4. Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, Faculty of Science, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary

    János Farkas

Authors
  1. Viktor Zöldi
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  2. Tibor Papp
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  3. Krisztina Rigó
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  4. János Farkas
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  5. László Egyed
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Correspondence to Viktor Zöldi.

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Zöldi, V., Papp, T., Rigó, K. et al. A 4-Year Study of a Natural Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus Focus in Hungary, 2010–2013. EcoHealth 12, 174–182 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-014-0969-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-014-0969-0

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