Jamestown Canyon virus in Massachusetts: clinical case series and vector screening

Jamestown Canyon virus (JCV) is a neuroinvasive arbovirus that is found throughout North America and increasingly recognized as a public health concern. From 2004 to 2012, an average of 1.7 confirmed cases were reported annually in the United States, whereas from 2013 to 2018 this figure increased o...

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Main Authors: Cormac M. Kinsella, Molly L. Paras, Sandra Smole, Samar Mehta, Vijay Ganesh, Lin H. Chen, Daniel P. McQuillen, Ruta Shah, Justin Chan, Matthew Osborne, Scott Hennigan, Frederic Halpern-Smith, Catherine M. Brown, Pardis Sabeti, Anne Piantadosi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2020-01-01
Series:Emerging Microbes and Infections
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Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/22221751.2020.1756697
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author Cormac M. Kinsella
Molly L. Paras
Sandra Smole
Samar Mehta
Vijay Ganesh
Lin H. Chen
Daniel P. McQuillen
Ruta Shah
Justin Chan
Matthew Osborne
Scott Hennigan
Frederic Halpern-Smith
Catherine M. Brown
Pardis Sabeti
Anne Piantadosi
author_facet Cormac M. Kinsella
Molly L. Paras
Sandra Smole
Samar Mehta
Vijay Ganesh
Lin H. Chen
Daniel P. McQuillen
Ruta Shah
Justin Chan
Matthew Osborne
Scott Hennigan
Frederic Halpern-Smith
Catherine M. Brown
Pardis Sabeti
Anne Piantadosi
author_sort Cormac M. Kinsella
collection DOAJ
description Jamestown Canyon virus (JCV) is a neuroinvasive arbovirus that is found throughout North America and increasingly recognized as a public health concern. From 2004 to 2012, an average of 1.7 confirmed cases were reported annually in the United States, whereas from 2013 to 2018 this figure increased over seventeen-fold to 29.2 cases per year. The rising number of reported human infections highlights the need for better understanding of the clinical manifestations and epidemiology of JCV. Here, we describe nine patients diagnosed with neuroinvasive JCV infection in Massachusetts from 2013, the year of the first reported case in the state, to 2017. Because current diagnostic testing relies on serology, which is complicated by cross-reactivity with related orthobunyaviruses and can be negative in immunosuppressed patients, we developed and evaluated an RT-qPCR assay for detection of JCV RNA. We tested this on the available archived serum from two patients, but did not detect viral RNA. JCV is transmitted by multiple mosquito species and its primary vector in Massachusetts is unknown, so we additionally applied the RT-qPCR assay and confirmatory RNA sequencing to assess JCV prevalence in a vector candidate, Ochlerotatus canadensis. We identified JCV in 0.6% of mosquito pools, a similar prevalence to neighboring Connecticut. We assembled the first Massachusetts JCV genome directly from a mosquito sample, finding high identity to JCV isolates collected over a 60-year period. Further studies are needed to reconcile the low vector prevalence and low rate of viral evolutionary change with the increasing number of reported cases.
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spelling doaj-art-c40367d46aa2489094bc6b641573f6102025-08-20T03:08:29ZengTaylor & Francis GroupEmerging Microbes and Infections2222-17512020-01-019190391210.1080/22221751.2020.1756697Jamestown Canyon virus in Massachusetts: clinical case series and vector screeningCormac M. Kinsella0Molly L. Paras1Sandra Smole2Samar Mehta3Vijay Ganesh4Lin H. Chen5Daniel P. McQuillen6Ruta Shah7Justin Chan8Matthew Osborne9Scott Hennigan10Frederic Halpern-Smith11Catherine M. Brown12Pardis Sabeti13Anne Piantadosi14Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USADepartment of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USABureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Jamaica Plain, MA, USAInfectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USADepartment of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USAHarvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USADepartment of Infectious Disease, Beth Israel Lahey Health, Lahey Hospital and Medical Center, Burlington, MA, USAHarvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USADepartment of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USABureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Jamaica Plain, MA, USABureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Jamaica Plain, MA, USABureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Jamaica Plain, MA, USABureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Jamaica Plain, MA, USAInfectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USAInfectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USAJamestown Canyon virus (JCV) is a neuroinvasive arbovirus that is found throughout North America and increasingly recognized as a public health concern. From 2004 to 2012, an average of 1.7 confirmed cases were reported annually in the United States, whereas from 2013 to 2018 this figure increased over seventeen-fold to 29.2 cases per year. The rising number of reported human infections highlights the need for better understanding of the clinical manifestations and epidemiology of JCV. Here, we describe nine patients diagnosed with neuroinvasive JCV infection in Massachusetts from 2013, the year of the first reported case in the state, to 2017. Because current diagnostic testing relies on serology, which is complicated by cross-reactivity with related orthobunyaviruses and can be negative in immunosuppressed patients, we developed and evaluated an RT-qPCR assay for detection of JCV RNA. We tested this on the available archived serum from two patients, but did not detect viral RNA. JCV is transmitted by multiple mosquito species and its primary vector in Massachusetts is unknown, so we additionally applied the RT-qPCR assay and confirmatory RNA sequencing to assess JCV prevalence in a vector candidate, Ochlerotatus canadensis. We identified JCV in 0.6% of mosquito pools, a similar prevalence to neighboring Connecticut. We assembled the first Massachusetts JCV genome directly from a mosquito sample, finding high identity to JCV isolates collected over a 60-year period. Further studies are needed to reconcile the low vector prevalence and low rate of viral evolutionary change with the increasing number of reported cases.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/22221751.2020.1756697Jamestown Canyon virusarbovirusencephalitismeningitisdiagnostics
spellingShingle Cormac M. Kinsella
Molly L. Paras
Sandra Smole
Samar Mehta
Vijay Ganesh
Lin H. Chen
Daniel P. McQuillen
Ruta Shah
Justin Chan
Matthew Osborne
Scott Hennigan
Frederic Halpern-Smith
Catherine M. Brown
Pardis Sabeti
Anne Piantadosi
Jamestown Canyon virus in Massachusetts: clinical case series and vector screening
Emerging Microbes and Infections
Jamestown Canyon virus
arbovirus
encephalitis
meningitis
diagnostics
title Jamestown Canyon virus in Massachusetts: clinical case series and vector screening
title_full Jamestown Canyon virus in Massachusetts: clinical case series and vector screening
title_fullStr Jamestown Canyon virus in Massachusetts: clinical case series and vector screening
title_full_unstemmed Jamestown Canyon virus in Massachusetts: clinical case series and vector screening
title_short Jamestown Canyon virus in Massachusetts: clinical case series and vector screening
title_sort jamestown canyon virus in massachusetts clinical case series and vector screening
topic Jamestown Canyon virus
arbovirus
encephalitis
meningitis
diagnostics
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/22221751.2020.1756697
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