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. 2023 Apr 5;13(1):5608.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-32431-9.

Persistence of Toscana virus in sugar and blood meals of phlebotomine sand flies: epidemiological and experimental consequences

Lison Laroche  1 , Nazli Ayhan  2 , Rémi Charrel  2 , Anne-Laure Bañuls  3 , Jorian Prudhomme  3   4
Affiliations

Persistence of Toscana virus in sugar and blood meals of phlebotomine sand flies: epidemiological and experimental consequences

Lison Laroche et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Many virological studies have tested the persistence of enveloped RNA viruses in various environmental and laboratory conditions and shown their short-term persistence. In this article, we analyzed Toscana virus (TOSV) infectivity, a pathogenic sandfly-borne phlebovirus, in two different conditions: in the sugar meal and blood meal of sand flies. Our results showed that TOSV RNA was detectable up to 15 days in sugar solution at 26 °C and up to 6 h in blood at 37 °C. Moreover, TOSV remains infective for 7 days in sugar solution and for minimum 6 h in rabbit blood. TOSV has shown persistent infectivity/viability under different conditions, which may have important epidemiological consequences. These results strengthen new hypotheses about the TOSV natural cycle, such as the possibility of horizontal transmission between sand flies through infected sugar meal.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Toscana virus RNA load (log10 copies/ml) and (B) TOSV infectivity (TCID50/ml) in blood over time.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Toscana virus RNA load (log10 copies/ml) in sugar solution over time post infection.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Toscana virus infectivity (TCID50/ml) in the sugar solution over time post infection. The red vertical line represents the boundary between infectious and non-infectious samples. The grey dashed horizontal line corresponds to the limit of detection of infectivity (0.8 log10 TCID50/ml).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Sampling method for the assessment of TOSV persistence (A) in rabbit blood at 37 °C and (B) in sugar solution at 26 °C.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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