Conveners
Session 2: Emerging Pathogens I
- Corinna Pietsch
- Sven Poppert
West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito-borne arbovirus causing West Nile fever (WNF) or neuroinvasive disease (WNND). WNV infections are notifiable according to the infection protection law. From May through November 30 there is mandatory screening of blood donors (BDs) for WNV in Germany.
In 2024 eight cases (5 BDs, 2 WNV, 1 WNND) of suspected WNV cases were reported to the local Public Health...
Superinfection exclusion describes the phenomenon of closely related viruses being unable to simultaneously coinfect the same cells. Despite being reported across a wide range of virus families, no general mechanism responsible has been identified. To study how closely related viruses interact, it’s often necessary to use tagged or otherwise genetically modified viruses, since classic...
Lassa virus (LASV) outbreaks cause up to 18,000 annual deaths in West Africa. Transmission mainly occurs through contact with infected rodents, with Mastomys natalensis as the primary reservoir host. Prior studies showed that homologous LASV strains (isolated from M. natalensis) cause persistent infections in Mastomys, while heterologous strains (isolated from other rodent species) are...
Astroviruses are one of the major causative agents of non-bacterial gastroenteritis in children under the age of five. The number of astroviruses detected in different host species is increasing, but virus isolation remains rare, which limits subsequent investigations. In the present study, a novel astrovirus was isolated from a greater white-toothed shrew (Crocidura russula, family...
Bluetongue virus (BTV), an arbovirus transmitted by Culicoides biting midges and circulating as multiple serotypes, possesses a genome composed of 10 segments of double-stranded RNA. BTV evolution is strongly driven by genetic reassortment, which occurs during the co-infection of host cells by two or more BTV strains and may result in novel genotypes with unpredictable phenotypic traits....
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a significant zoonotic virus that the World Health Organization (WHO) has classified as a priority pathogen due to its potential to cause epidemics. As of April 2025, an estimated 2,627 lab-confirmed cases of MERS-CoV, with at least 946 deaths across 27 countries, have been reported. Given Nigeria's porous borders and the transboundary...
Background:
In early 2025, Masaka City was identified as the epicenter of a rapidly growing Mpox outbreak in Uganda, reporting 105 and 125 confirmed cases in February and March, respectively. Preliminary evidence suggested that transmission was driven by close interpersonal contact and specific behavioral and environmental exposures. We conducted a case-control study to identify risk factors...
