Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus, United Kingdom

Maya Holding; Stuart D. Dowall; Jolyon M. Medlock; Daniel P. Carter; Steven T. Pullan; James Lewis; Richard Vipond; Mara S. Rocchi; Matthew Baylis; Roger Hewson

Disclosures

Emerging Infectious Diseases. 2020;26(1):90-96. 

In This Article

Abstract and Introduction

Abstract

During February 2018–January 2019, we conducted large-scale surveillance for the presence and prevalence of tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) and louping ill virus (LIV) in sentinel animals and ticks in the United Kingdom. Serum was collected from 1,309 deer culled across England and Scotland. Overall, 4% of samples were ELISA-positive for the TBEV serocomplex. A focus in the Thetford Forest area had the highest proportion (47.7%) of seropositive samples. Ticks collected from culled deer within seropositive regions were tested for viral RNA; 5 of 2,041 ticks tested positive by LIV/TBEV real-time reverse transcription PCR, all from within the Thetford Forest area. From 1 tick, we identified a full-length genomic sequence of TBEV. Thus, using deer as sentinels revealed a potential TBEV focus in the United Kingdom. This detection of TBEV genomic sequence in UK ticks has important public health implications, especially for undiagnosed encephalitis.

Introduction

The only tickborne flavivirus in the United Kingdom documented to cause disease in vertebrates is louping ill virus (LIV), a vivirus transmitted by the deer/sheep tick, Ixodes ricinus.[1] This tick species is the most abundant and widely distributed tick species in the United Kingdom and a known vector of Lyme borreliosis. LIV is most commonly detected in sheep, cattle, and red grouse and has been reported in Scotland, Wales, and England (primarily Cumbria, Devon, and North Yorkshire).[1] Humans are incidental hosts for LIV, and infection has been reported infrequently; ≈45 clinical cases have been linked to encephalitis during the past 85 years.[1,2] However, the short window of acute infection leads to uncertainty about whether suspected cases resulted from LIV infection or some other cause, although serologic analysis to analyze recent exposure through induction of IgM-specific responses, in combination with clinical symptoms, could inform a presumptive diagnosis. Human cases are mostly linked to occupational exposure, particularly in abattoir or farm workers and occasionally in laboratory staff.[2] Although the UK Animal and Plant Health Agency holds a database of confirmed diagnoses of LIV in livestock,[3,4] the distribution and regional prevalence of LIV has not been fully defined. Records of distribution and regional prevalence are based on voluntary submissions by farmers and veterinarians from symptomatic livestock,[1] from which private submissions are not integrated. Serologic analysis has been complicated; some animals received vaccination before its withdrawal.

Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) is a closely related flavivirus that, although known to be less virulent than LIV for sheep,[5] causes a neurologic disease (tick-borne encephalitis [TBE]) after transmission to humans by infected ticks, producing clinical disease in an estimated one third of TBEV infections.[6] TBE typically has a biphasic course starting with a prodromal phase with influenza-like symptoms, followed by a symptom-free interval before neurologic disease occurs; neurologic disease ranges from mild meningitis to severe encephalitis with or without myelitis and spinal paralysis.[7] Three classic subtypes of TBEV are recognized: European (TBEV-Eu), Siberian, and Far Eastern. Two additional TBEV subtypes have recently been proposed: Baikalian subtype and the Himalayan subtype.[8] TBEV-Eu is the prevailing subtype in Western Europe where it is primarily transmitted by I. ricinus ticks and is maintained within forest and meadow biotypes in endemic foci. In the United Kingdom, TBE is considered an imported disease; opportunities for the virus to become established principally are limited because the UK climate was not thought to support the specific conditions required for enzoonotic cycles to be established for TBEV to become endemic.[9] However, changes in climate have affected the emergence, distribution, and abundance of I. ricinus in the United Kingdom;[10] thus, the risk for tickborne disease has increased.[11] A recent study provided evidence that co-infestation of tick larvae and nymphs occurs in small mammals in UK woodland.[12] The increasing range of TBEV in Western Europe was underscored recently when the Netherlands reported its first human case in 2016.[13] Moreover, retrospective serologic screening of deer serum samples and molecular analysis of questing ticks found evidence of TBEV circulation in the Netherlands as far back as 2010 and 2015.[13,14] Given the increasing possibility that TBEV could be circulating in the United Kingdom, Public Health England developed a surveillance program focusing on wild animals and ticks.

In TBEV-endemic areas in continental Europe, the prevalence of TBEV in questing ticks is low, rarely exceeding 1% even in regions where the incidence of human infections is high.[15] Therefore, instead of screening ticks directly, we used sentinel animals first to identify serologic evidence of TBEV to highlight sites for focused tick testing by specific TBEV detection using real-time reverse transcription PCR (rRT-PCR). Deer are proven as reliable sentinels for identifying areas where TBEV is present[13,15] because they have a limited home range, are available in large numbers, and are broadly dispersed within the surveillance areas. They also show long-lasting antibody responses after natural exposure to flaviviruses.[15,16]

For our study, collectors retrieved blood samples from deer culled in England and Scotland during February 2018–January 2019; when available, they also collected tick samples. We tested the blood samples for TBEV or LIV antibodies and the ticks for the presence of viral RNA by rRT-PCR.

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