Evidence of rustrela virus-associated feline staggering disease in Sweden since the 1970s
We show that RusV has infected cats in Sweden as far back as the 1970s, whereas BoDV-1 was not detected in any of the investigated cats. This further strengthens RusV as the causative agent of feline SD. Our findings suggest that RusV is strongly neurotropic in cats and that the cat may represent a dead-end host. Further investigations into the pathogenesis of RusV-associated meningoencephalomyelitis in cats are warranted, including disease transmission, pathophysiologic responses and mechanisms of neuronal dysfunction.
Authors
- Dennis Rubbenstroth (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8209-6274)
- Sofia Tengstrand (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2840-427X)
- Florian Pfaff (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0178-6183)
- Jonas Johansson Wensman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6957-7110)
- Cecilia Ley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4967-6645)
- Emma Thilén (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-1812-0113)
Institutions
- Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (DE)
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE)
- Swedish Forest Agency (SE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Acta veterinaria Scandinavica
- Published
- 2024-11-23
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s13028-024-00783-5
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- Vector-Borne Animal Diseases
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 5.15
Funders
- Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet