Piscichuvirus-Associated Severe Meningoencephalomyelitis in Aquatic Turtles, United States, 2009–2021

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Emerg Infect Dis
• Personal Author:
  Laovechprasit, Weerapong ; Young, Kelsey T. ; Stacy, Brian A. ; Tillis, Steven B. ; Ossiboff, Robert J. ; Vann, Jordan A. ; Subramaniam, Kuttichantran ; Agnew, Dalen W. ; Howerth, Elizabeth W. ; Zhang, Jian ; Whitaker, Shayna ; Walker, Alicia ; Orgill, Andrew M. ; Howell, Lyndsey N. ; Shaver, Donna J. ; Donnelly, Kyle ; Foley, Allen M. ; Stanton, James B.
• Description:
  Viruses from a new species of piscichuvirus were strongly associated with severe lymphocytic meningoencephalomyelitis in several free-ranging aquatic turtles from 3 coastal US states during 2009-2021. Sequencing identified 2 variants (freshwater turtle neural virus 1 [FTuNV1] and sea turtle neural virus 1 [STuNV1]) of the new piscichuvirus species in 3 turtles of 3 species. In situ hybridization localized viral mRNA to the inflamed region of the central nervous system in all 3 sequenced isolates and in 2 of 3 additional nonsequenced isolates. All 3 sequenced isolates phylogenetically clustered with other vertebrate chuvirids within the genus Piscichuvirus. FTuNV1 and STuNV1 shared ≈92% pairwise amino acid identity of the large protein, which narrowly places them within the same novel species. The in situ association of the piscichuviruses in 5 of 6 turtles (representing 3 genera) with lymphocytic meningoencephalomyelitis suggests that piscichuviruses are a likely cause of lymphocytic meningoencephalomyelitis in freshwater and marine turtles.
• Subjects:
  Animals Central Nervous System RNA, Messenger Turtles
• Keywords:
  Encephalomyelitis Infectious Diseases Meningitis/Encephalitis Meningoencephalomyelitis Metagenomics Piscichuvirus Turtles United States Viruses
• Source:
  Emerg Infect Dis. 2024; 30(2):280-288
• Pubmed ID:
  38270209
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC10826744
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• Volume:
  30
• Issue:
  2
• Collection(s):
  Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:80ebf3d9981f8bde86b6713f7043331a3a7b2df3d7381473256c6b017970f09f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/147364/cdc_147364_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.54 MB ]