Detection of tick-borne encephalitis virus in Ixodes ticks collected in a natural focus of Gornyi Altai

Enzyme immunoassay of tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBE) in the samples of Ixodes ticks collected in the outskirts of the settlement of Manzherok, Maiminsk District, Republic of Altai, revealed TBE antigen in 16.9±1.9% of the taiga ticks. Real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) with specific fluorescent probes and phylogenetic analysis of the nucleotide sequences of RT-RCR products corresponding to 5'-terminal fragment of the E gene of TBE, all the virus strains isolated from the ticks collected in Gornyi Altai were referred to as the Siberian genetic type that was dominant in virus-carrying ticks in the majority of endemic areas of Russia and near abroad. Viral load assays using the real-time RT-PCR with the probes indicated the threshold cycles Ct = 25.34-28.98, which, with regard to the efficiency of RNA identification and reverse transcription, was equal to about 104-105 viral RNA copies per tick.

tick-borne encephalitis virus, pig embryo kidney cells, cytopathic effect, hemagglutination reaction, enzyme immunoassay for E antigen, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, real-time transcription-polymerase chain reaction