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Viruses
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Tick-Borne Viruses: Transmission and Surveillance, 2nd Edition
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Tick-Borne Viruses: Transmission and Surveillance, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "Invertebrate Viruses".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2026 | Viewed by 5876

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Anna Papa

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Microbiology, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: infectious diseases; laboratory diagnostics; molecular epidemiology; pathogenesis; immune responses; phylogeny
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Ticks have the potential to transmit a variety of pathogens, including viruses, which poses a threat to human and animal health. It is estimated that the incidence of tick-borne viral diseases is increasing worldwide. Furthermore, using metagenomics, several novel viruses have recently been identified in ticks, some of them with pathogenic potential. This Special Issue, entitled “Tick-Borne Viruses: Transmission and Surveillance, 2nd Edition”, aims to present recent research on any aspect of the viruses transmitted to vertebrate hosts through tick bites and to expand our knowledge on their transmissibility and surveillance. Some of the focal points of the Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

  1. Factors affecting the transmission of tick-borne viruses;
  2. Virulence in ticks and hosts;
  3. Tick–virus–host interactions;
  4. Surveillance of tick-borne viral diseases;
  5. Interventions for the control of tick-borne viruses.

Reviews, original research, and communications are all welcome.

Prof. Dr. Anna Papa
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Viruses is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • tick-borne viruses
  • transmissibility
  • vector competence
  • virulence
  • interactions
  • surveillance
  • discovery
  • replication
  • pathogenesis
  • vaccine development

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 4767 KB  
Article
First Report of the Yezo Virus Isolates Detection in Russia
by Mikhail Kartashov, Kirill Svirin, Alina Zheleznova, Alexey Yanshin, Nikita Radchenko, Valentina Kurushina, Tatyana Tregubchak, Lada Maksimenko, Mariya Sivay, Vladimir Ternovoi, Alexander Agafonov and Anastasia Gladysheva
Viruses 2025, 17(8), 1125; https://doi.org/10.3390/v17081125 - 15 Aug 2025
Viewed by 930
Abstract
The recent discovery of the Yezo virus (YEZV) in Japan and China has raised particular concern due to its potential to cause human diseases ranging from mild febrile illnesses to severe neurological disorders. We report, for the first time, the detection of five [...] Read more.
The recent discovery of the Yezo virus (YEZV) in Japan and China has raised particular concern due to its potential to cause human diseases ranging from mild febrile illnesses to severe neurological disorders. We report, for the first time, the detection of five YEZV isolates in I. persulcatus ticks from three regions of Russia. The analysis was performed using 5318 ticks of two Ixodes genus collected in 2024 from 23 regions of Russia. The minimum infection rate of YEZV in Russia among I. persulcatus ticks was 0.12% (95% CI: 0.05–0.28). The westernmost and northernmost YEZV detection points have been recorded. YEZV isolates circulating in Russia are genetically diverse. Protein domains of Russian YEZV isolates’ genomes were characterized using HMMER, AlphaFold 3, and InterProScan. The YEZV nucleoprotein (N) of Russian isolates has a racket-shaped structure with “head” and “stalk” domains similar to those of Orthonairovirus haemorrhagiae. The Lys261–Arg261 substitution in the YEZV N Chita 2024-1 isolate occurs in the α11 structure in the region of interaction with viral RNA. Our results show that the distribution area of YEZV is much wider than previously known, provide new data on complete YEZV genomes, extend our structural insight into YEZV N, and suggest a potential target for antiviral drug development to treat YEZV infection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tick-Borne Viruses: Transmission and Surveillance, 2nd Edition)
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17 pages, 13102 KB  
Article
Pharmacological Agent GW4869 Inhibits Tick-Borne Langat Virus Replication to Affect Extracellular Vesicles Secretion
by Md Bayzid, Biswajit Bhowmick, Waqas Ahmed, Girish Neelakanta and Hameeda Sultana
Viruses 2025, 17(7), 969; https://doi.org/10.3390/v17070969 - 10 Jul 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 808
Abstract
GW4869, a cell-permeable, selective inhibitor of neutral sphingomyelinase is a pharmacological agent that blocks the production and release of extracellular vesicles (EVs). Our previous studies have shown that GW4869 inhibits flaviviral loads in tick, mosquito and mammalian cells, including murine cortical neurons. Yet [...] Read more.
GW4869, a cell-permeable, selective inhibitor of neutral sphingomyelinase is a pharmacological agent that blocks the production and release of extracellular vesicles (EVs). Our previous studies have shown that GW4869 inhibits flaviviral loads in tick, mosquito and mammalian cells, including murine cortical neurons. Yet the mechanism(s) of GW4869 inhibitor upon viral infections were not addressed. In the current study, we focused on how GW4869 interferes with Langat Virus (LGTV, a tick-borne flavivirus) replication in ISE6 tick cells. First, we found that GW4869 is neither cytotoxic at tested doses of 50, 100, and 150 µM in tick cells, nor does it directly bind to the free LGTV present in cell culture supernatants. When tick cells were treated with GW4869, followed by infection with viral stock at dilutions of 10−2, 10−3, 10−4 (the infectious dose determination by viral dilution assay), it affected LGTV replication in tick cells. A reduction in viral burden was noted in GW4869-treated tick cells, which constituted more than half the amount of decrease when compared to the mock control. Next, GW4869 treatment not only resulted in decreased LGTV transcript levels in tick cells and EVs derived from these infected cells, but also revealed diminished EVs concentrations. Enhanced IsSMase transcripts in the LGTV-infected group was noted upon GW4869 treatment, thus suggesting a host response to perhaps inhibit virus replication. In addition, GW4869 treatment reduced LGTV loads in density gradient EVs fractions, which correlated with decreased EVs concentration in those fractions. These data not only indicate that GW4869 affects LGTV replication, but that it also interferes with EV secretion and release from tick cells. Lastly, we found that GW4869 inhibits LGTV replication in tick cells but does not directly affect the infectivity of LGTV viral particles. Overall, our study suggests that GW4869 is a potential therapeutic inhibitor in controlling tick-borne diseases. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tick-Borne Viruses: Transmission and Surveillance, 2nd Edition)
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16 pages, 8085 KB  
Article
Neurotropic Tick-Borne Flavivirus in Alpine Chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra rupicapra), Austria, 2017, Italy, 2023
by Norbert Nowotny, Maria Lucia Mandola, Isabella Monne, Zoltán Bagó, Chiara Nogarol, Alice Fusaro, Katharina Dimmel, Barbara Moroni, Lisa Guardone, Jolanta Kolodziejek, Elisa Palumbo, Gabriela Stanclova, Adi Steinrigl, Gabriele Fidler, Cristina Bertasio, Irene Bertoletti, Alessandro Bianchi, Mattia Calzolari, Paola Prati, Nadia Vicari, Angela Salomoni, Maria Francesca Priore, Federica Gobbo, Aitor Garcia-Vozmediano, Tom Loney, Ahmad Abou Tayoun, Alawi Alsheikh-Ali, Paola De Benedictis, Jeremy V. Camp, Zdenek Hubalek, Ivo Rudolf, Davide Lelli and Ana Morenoadd Show full author list remove Hide full author list
Viruses 2025, 17(1), 122; https://doi.org/10.3390/v17010122 - 16 Jan 2025
Viewed by 3488
Abstract
The European subtype of tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV-Eur; species Orthoflavivirus encephalitidis, family Flaviviridae) was the only tick-borne flavivirus present in central Europe known to cause neurologic disease in humans and several animal species. Here, we report a tick-borne flavivirus isolated from [...] Read more.
The European subtype of tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV-Eur; species Orthoflavivirus encephalitidis, family Flaviviridae) was the only tick-borne flavivirus present in central Europe known to cause neurologic disease in humans and several animal species. Here, we report a tick-borne flavivirus isolated from Alpine chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra rupicapra) with encephalitis and attached ticks, present over a wide area in the Alps. Cases were detected in 2017 in Salzburg, Austria, and 2023 in Lombardy and Piedmont, Italy. The virus strains exhibit 94.8–97.3% nucleotide identities to each other and are more closely related to Louping ill viruses (LIV; Orthoflavivirus loupingi; 90–92% identities) than to TBEV-Eur (less than 88%). The chamois-derived virus strains, tentatively termed “Alpine chamois encephalitis virus”, form a well-supported independent genetic clade with Spanish goat encephalitis virus, clearly separated from other LIV. This supports its designation as a new virus subtype with the proposed shared taxonomic name “Spanish goat and Alpine chamois encephalitis virus subtype” within the species Orthoflavivirus loupingi. The zoonotic potential of this newly identified virus subtype as well as its host range in other animal species including farm animals needs to be further investigated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tick-Borne Viruses: Transmission and Surveillance, 2nd Edition)
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