Ali Zohaib1, Saifullah Khan Niazi2, Muhammad Saqib3, Muhammad Sohail Sajid4, Iahtasham Khan5, Awais-Ur-Rahman Sial6, Muhammad Ammar Athar7, Zeeshan Taj8, Ghazanfar Abbas4, Muhammad Ali Rathore9, Eijaz Ghani2, Muhammad Ahsan Naeem10, Muhammad Imran4, Naveed Iqbal4, Sajjad-Ur Rehman4, Cecilia Waruhiu1, Zheng-Li Shi11. 1. CAS Key Laboratory of Special Pathogens and Biosafety, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. 2. Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), Rawalpindi, Pakistan. 3. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. Electronic address: drsaqib_vet@hotmail.com. 4. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. 5. Section of Epidemiology and Public Health, Dept. Clinical Sciences, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore Sub-campus, Jhang, Pakistan. 6. Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, PMAS Aird Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. 7. Laboratory of Cancer Biomarkers and Liquid Biopsy, College of Pharmacy, Henan University, Henan, China. 8. Department of Microbiology, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan. 9. Armed Forces Institute of Transfusion (AFIT), Rawalpindi, Pakistan. 10. State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China. 11. CAS Key Laboratory of Special Pathogens and Biosafety, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: This study was performed to determine the presence of West Nile virus (WNV) in mosquito specimens and human blood donors in Pakistan. METHODS: A total of 4150 mosquito specimens were collected using CO2-baited traps from five selected districts of Punjab Province, Pakistan. The mosquitoes were taxonomically identified using standard morphological keys, resulting in 166 pools. In addition, 1070 serum samples were collected from human blood donors. RNA was extracted from mosquito and human samples and screened for WNV using a reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR). RESULTS: None of the mosquito pools tested positive for WNV, whereas three samples from asymptomatic humans tested positive. To determine the WNV strains, partial sequences were compared against a global representation of 23 WNV sequences. The study strains were determined to come from WNV lineage 1. CONCLUSIONS: This study is novel in reporting the circulation of lineage 1 WNV in Pakistan. Given its ability to transmit from human to human via blood transfusion, this highlights the urgent need for nationwide surveillance to assess the distribution and impact of WNV in Pakistan. Determining the source of human infection will require more extensive mosquito sampling.
OBJECTIVES: This study was performed to determine the presence of West Nile virus (WNV) in mosquito specimens and human blood donors in Pakistan. METHODS: A total of 4150 mosquito specimens were collected using CO2-baited traps from five selected districts of Punjab Province, Pakistan. The mosquitoes were taxonomically identified using standard morphological keys, resulting in 166 pools. In addition, 1070 serum samples were collected from human blood donors. RNA was extracted from mosquito and human samples and screened for WNV using a reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR). RESULTS: None of the mosquito pools tested positive for WNV, whereas three samples from asymptomatic humans tested positive. To determine the WNV strains, partial sequences were compared against a global representation of 23 WNV sequences. The study strains were determined to come from WNV lineage 1. CONCLUSIONS: This study is novel in reporting the circulation of lineage 1 WNV in Pakistan. Given its ability to transmit from human to human via blood transfusion, this highlights the urgent need for nationwide surveillance to assess the distribution and impact of WNV in Pakistan. Determining the source of humaninfection will require more extensive mosquito sampling.