• Dennis Tappe, Kore Schlottau, Daniel Cadar, Bernd Hoffmann, Lorenz Balke, Burkhard Bewig, Donata Hoffmann, Philip Eisermann, Helmut Fickenscher, Andi Krumbholz, Helmut Laufs, Monika Huhndorf, Maria Rosenthal, Walter Schulz-Schaeffer, Gabriele Ismer, Sven-Kevin Hotop, Mark Brönstrup, Anthonina Ott, Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit, and Martin Beer.
• Emerging Infect. Dis. 2018 Jun 1; 24 (6): 978-987.

AbstractLimbic encephalitis is commonly regarded as an autoimmune-mediated disease. However, after the recent detection of zoonotic variegated squirrel bornavirus 1 in a Prevost's squirrel (Callosciurus prevostii) in a zoo in northern Germany, we retrospectively investigated a fatal case in an autoantibody-seronegative animal caretaker who had worked at that zoo. The virus had been discovered in 2015 as the cause of a cluster of cases of fatal encephalitis among breeders of variegated squirrels (Sciurus variegatoides) in eastern Germany. Molecular assays and immunohistochemistry detected a limbic distribution of the virus in brain tissue of the animal caretaker. Phylogenetic analyses demonstrated a spillover infection from the Prevost's squirrel. Antibodies against bornaviruses were detected in the patient's cerebrospinal fluid by immunofluorescence and newly developed ELISAs and immunoblot. The putative antigenic epitope was identified on the viral nucleoprotein. Other zoo workers were not infected; however, avoidance of direct contact with exotic squirrels and screening of squirrels are recommended.

43 keywords...

hide…