Prevalence of tick-borne encephalitis virus in ticks from southern Korea.
The prevalence of tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) in southern Korea was determined by collecting ticks using tick drags. A total of 4,077 of 6,788 ticks collected were pooled (649 pools) according to collection site, species, and developmental stage and assayed for TBEV. The TBEV protein E and NS5 gene fragments were detected using RT-nested PCR in six pools of nymphs collected from Jeju Island (2,491 ticks). The minimum field detection rates for TBEV were 0.17% and 0.14% for Haemaphysalis longicornis and Haemayphysalis. flava nymphs, respectively. The 252 bp NS5 and 477 bp protein E gene amplicons were sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the NS5 and protein E genes of the Jeju strain were clustered with Western subtype (98.0% and 99.4% identity, respectively). The Western subtype of TBEV is endemic in Korea, including Jeju Island. The study of vector and zoonotic host susceptibility to TBEV is required to better understand its potential impact on public health.
Ko
Sungjin
S
Veterinary Internal Medicine, Research Institute and BK21 Program for Veterinary Science and College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea.
Kang
Jun Gu
JG
Kim
Su Yeon
SY
Kim
Heung Chul
HC
Klein
Terry A
TA
Chong
Sung Tae
ST
Sames
William J
WJ
Yun
Seok Min
SM
Ju
Young Ran
YR
Chae
Joon Seok
JS
D000818:Animals; D001096:Arachnid Vectors / Q000821:virology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D004669:Encephalitis Viruses, Tick-Borne / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D004675:Encephalitis, Tick-Borne / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D015995:Prevalence; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013987:Ticks / Q000821:virology*; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics
D017931:DNA Primers; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins