Journal
ONE HEALTH
Volume 2, Issue -, Pages 136-138Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.onehlt.2016.09.003
Keywords
West Nile virus; Snake; RNA; Flavirus; Reptile; Virus
Funding
- Central Resource Development Fund from the University of Pittsburgh [9009626]
- Alice Waters Thomas Fund
- University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
Ask authors/readers for more resources
West Nile virus (WNV) has a complex eco-epidemiology with birds acting as reservoirs and hosts for the virus. Less well understood is the role of reptiles, especially in wild populations. The goal of our study was to determine whether a wild population of snakes in Pennsylvania harbored WNV. Six species of snakes were orally sampled in the summer of 2013 and were tested for the presence of WNV viral RNA using RT-PCR. Two Eastern Garter Snakes, Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis tested positive for viral RNA (2/123, 1.62%). These results indicate a possible role for snakes in the complex transmission cycle of WNV. (c) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available