Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 14, 2026

Validating Whole Genome Nanopore Sequencing, using Usutu Virus as an Example
Published on: March 11, 2020
Usutu virus infections in humans: a retrospective analysis in the municipality of Modena, Italy
A Grottola1, M Marcacci2, S Tagliazucchi3
1Dipartimento di Medicina Diagnostica, Clinica e di Sanità pubblica, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy; S.C. Microbiologia e Virologia, Modena, Italy.
Objective:
To monitor the spread and to evaluate the role for public health of Usutu virus (USUV) in an endemic area of Italy.
Methods:
The survey was retrospectively conducted by detecting USUV RNA and USUV antibodies in cerebrospinal fluid and serum samples collected between 2008 and 2011 from 915 patients with or without neurologic impairments in the area of the municipality of Modena, Italy. Organs of birds and pools of mosquitoes were also tested for USUV RNA. Positive samples were partially sequenced and used for phylogenetic analysis.
Results:
The presence of USUV RNA (1.1%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.6-2.0) was significantly (p <0.05) higher than that of West Nile virus (0%; 95% CI 0-0.33). USUV antibody level was 6.57% (95% CI 4.87-8.82), and it was significantly higher (p <0.05) compared to that of West Nile virus (p 2.96, 95% CI 1.89-4.62). Partial genome sequencing of USUV strains detected in humans, birds and mosquitoes revealed high nucleotide sequence identity within them and with the USUV strains isolated in Central Europe.
Conclusions:
USUV infection in humans is not a sporadic event in the studied area, and USUV neuroinvasiveness has been confirmed.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Retrovirus Life Cycles
Viruses with RNA Genomes
Sexually Transmitted Infections
Rous Sarcoma Virus (RSV) and Cancer
RSV is a retrovirus that contains two copies of a plus-strand RNA genome. Its genome consists of four main open...
Non-LTR Retrotransposons
Retroviruses

