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Emerging Rodent-Borne Viral Zoonoses in Trento, Italy

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Abstract

Rodent-borne hanta- and arenaviruses are an emerging public health threat in Europe; however, their circulation in human populations is usually underestimated since most infections are asymptomatic. Compared to other European countries, Italy is considered ‘low risk’ for these viruses, yet in the Province of Trento, two pathogenic hantaviruses (Puumala and Dobrava-Belgrade virus) and one arenavirus (Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus) are known to circulate in rodent reservoirs. In this paper, we performed a follow-up serological screening in humans to detect variation in the prevalence of these three viruses compared to previous analyses carried out in 2002. We also used a statistical model to link seropositivity to risk factors such as occupational exposure, cutting firewood, hunting, collecting mushrooms, having a garden and owning a woodshed, a dog or a companion rodent. We demonstrate a significant increase in the seroprevalence of all three target viruses between 2002 and 2015, but no risk factors that we considered were significantly correlated with this increase. We conclude that the general exposure of residents in the Alps to these viruses has probably increased during the last decade. These results provide an early warning to public health authorities, and we suggest more detailed diagnostic and clinical investigations on suspected cases.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all the blood donors that accepted to be part of the study and all the personnel involved in the blood collection. The project was partially supported by EU Grant FP7-261504 EDENext and was cataloged by the EDENext Steering Committee as 473 EDENext.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biodiversity and Molecular Ecology, Research and Innovation Center, Fondazione Edmund Mach, Via E. Mach, 1, 38010, San Michele all’Adige, TN, Italy

    Valentina Tagliapietra, Roberto Rosà, Chiara Rossi, Fausta Rosso, Heidi Christine Hauffe & Annapaola Rizzoli

  2. Azienda Provinciale per i Servizi Sanitari di Trento, Trento, Italy

    Michele Tommasini & Walter Versini

  3. Servizio di Immunoematologia e Trasfusione, Ospedale S. Chiara, Trento, Italy

    Attilio Fabio Cristallo

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  1. Valentina Tagliapietra
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  2. Roberto Rosà
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  4. Fausta Rosso
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  9. Annapaola Rizzoli
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Correspondence to Valentina Tagliapietra.

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This study was partially funded by EU Grant FP7-261504 EDENext and was cataloged by the EDENext Steering Committee as 473 EDENext.

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Tagliapietra, V., Rosà, R., Rossi, C. et al. Emerging Rodent-Borne Viral Zoonoses in Trento, Italy. EcoHealth 15, 695–704 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-018-1335-4

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