Naturally occurring orthopoxviruses: potential for recombination with vaccine vectors

Orthopoxviruses are being increasingly used as live recombinant vectors for vaccination against numerous infectious diseases in humans, domestic animals, and wildlife. For risk assessments and surveillance, information about the occurrence, distribution and ecology of orthopoxviruses in western Europe is important but has mainly been based on serological investigations. We have examined kidneys, lungs, spleens, and livers of Norwegian small rodents and common shrews (Sorex araneus) for the presence of orthopoxvirus DNA sequences by PCR with primers complementary to the viral thymidine kinase (TK) gene. PCR amplicons were verified as orthopoxvirus specific by hybridization with a vaccinia virus TK-specific probe. A total of 347 animals (1,388 organs) from eight locations in different parts of Norway, collected at different times of the year during 1993 to 1995, were examined. Fifty-two animals (15%) from five locations, up to 1,600 km apart, carried orthopoxvirus DNA in one or more of their organs, most frequently in the lungs. These included 9 of 68 (13%) bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus), 4 of 13 (31%) gray-sided voles (Clethrionomys rufocanus), 3 of 11 (27%) northern red-backed voles (Clethrionomys rutilus), 16 of 76 (21%) wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus), and 20 of 157 (13%) common shrews. The previous isolation of cowpox virus from two clinical cases of infection (human and feline) at two of the locations investigated suggests that the viruses detected are cowpox and that some of the virus-carrying small mammalian species should be included among the cowpox virus natural reservoir hosts in Scandinavia and western Europe.