Serologic Evidence of Various Arboviruses Detected in White Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in the United States

Authors

• Kerri Pedersen, USDA APHIS Wildlife ServicesFollow
• Eryu Wang, University of Texas Medical Branch
• Scott C. Weaver, University of Texas Medical Branch
• Paul C. Wolf, USDA APHIS Wildlife Services
• Adam R. Randall, USDA APHIS Wildlife Services
• Kyle R. Van Why, USDA APHIS Wildlife Services
• Amelia P.A. Travassos da Rosa, University of Texas Medical Branch
• Thomas Gidlewski, USDA APHIS Wildlife ServicesFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2017

Citation

Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 97(2), 2017, pp. 319–323, doi:10.4269/ajtmh.17-0180.

Comments

U.S. government work.

Abstract

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are an abundant mammal with a wide geographic distribution in the United States, which make them good sentinels for monitoring arboviral activity across the country. Exposure to various arboviruses has been detected in white-tailed deer, typically in conjunction with another diagnostic finding. To better assess the exposure of white-tailed deer to seven arboviruses, wetested 1,508 sera collected from 2010 to 2016 for antibodies to eastern equine encephalitis (2.5%), Powassan (4.2%), St. Louis encephalitis, (3.7%), West Nile (6.0%), Maguari (19.4%), La Crosse (30.3%), and bluetongue (7.8%) viruses. At least one arbovirus was detected in 51.3%, and exposure to more than one arbovirus was identified in 17.6% of the white-tailed deer sampled.