The emergence of West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV) in addition to the autochthonous tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) in Europe causes rising concern for public and animal health. The first equine case of West Nile neuroinvasive disease in Austria was diagnosed in 2016. As a consequence, a cross-sectional seroprevalence study was conducted in 2017, including 348 equids from eastern Austria. Serum samples reactive by ELISA for either flavivirus immunoglobulin G or M were further analyzed with the plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT-80) to identify the specific etiologic agent. Neutralizing antibody prevalences excluding vaccinated equids were found to be 5.3% for WNV, 15.5% for TBEV, 0% for USUV, and 1.2% for WNV from autochthonous origin. Additionally, reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was performed to detect WNV nucleic acid in horse sera and was found to be negative in all cases. Risk factor analysis did not identify any factors significantly associated with seropositivity.

中文翻译：

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西尼罗河病毒和蜱传脑炎病毒在奥地利东部的马科动物中流行

除了欧洲本土的蜱传脑炎病毒 (TBEV) 外，西尼罗河病毒 (WNV) 和乌苏图病毒 (USUV) 的出现引起了公众和动物健康的日益关注。2016 年诊断出奥地利首例西尼罗河神经侵袭性疾病马病例。因此，2017 年进行了一项横断面血清阳性率研究，包括来自奥地利东部的 348 头马。通过 ELISA 对黄病毒免疫球蛋白 G 或 M 具有反应性的血清样品进一步用斑块减少中和试验 (PRNT-80) 进行分析，以确定特定的病原体。发现不包括接种马科动物的中和抗体流行率为 5.3%，TBEV 为 15.5%，USUV 为 0%，来自本土的 WNV 为 1.2%。此外，进行逆转录定量聚合酶链反应 (RT-qPCR) 以检测马血清中的 WNV 核酸，发现所有病例均为阴性。风险因素分析未发现任何与血清阳性显着相关的因素。