Encephalomyocarditis virus infection in Macaca sylvanus and Hystrix cristata from an Italian rescue centre for wild and exotic animals
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: The Encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV) is a small, non enveloped, positive sense single-stranded RNA virus in the genus Cardiovirus, family Picornaviridae, with two known serotypes. It is spread worldwide and infects a huge range of vertebrate hosts with zoonotic potential for humans. The pig is the mammal most likely to be impacted on with the disease, but EMCV occurrence has also been reported in non-human primates and in a variety of domestic, captive and wild animals. Until now, human cases have been very rare and the risk appears to be almost negligible in spite of human susceptibility to the infection. CASE PRESENTATION: Between September and November 2012 a fatal Encephalomyocarditis virus outbreak involving four Barbary macaques and 24 crested porcupines occurred at a rescue centre for wild and exotic animals in Central Italy. In this open-field zoo park located near Grosseto, Tuscany about 1000 animals belonging to different species, including various non-human primates were hosted at that time. Sudden deaths were generally observed without any evident symptoms or only with mild nonspecific clinical signs. The major gross change was characterised by grey-white necrotic foci in the myocardium and the same EMCV strain was isolated both in macaques and crested porcupines. Phylogenetic analysis has confirmed that only one EMCV strain is circulating in Italy, capable of infecting different animal species. CONCLUSIONS: This report confirms the susceptibility of non-human primates to the EMCV infection and describes the disease in porcupine, a common wild Italian and African species. No human cases were observed, but given the zoonotic potential of EMCV these findings are of importance in the context of animal-human interface.
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EMCV outbreaks in zoos, involving a myriad of mammal species, have been reported from Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America, making the virus a worldwide problem in zoological settings.
“EMCV outbreaks in zoos – involving a myriad of mammal species such as primates, ungulates, carnivores, rodents, and marsupials – have been reported from Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America, making the virus a worldwide problem in zoological settings [16,22–29].”
From Zoological transmission of encephalomyocarditis virus in the United States: Virus evolution, host ecology, and capsid antigenicity derived from an outbreak (2026) · cites this paper as [29]
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Cites
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“EMCV outbreaks in zoos – involving a myriad of mammal species such as primates, ungulates, carni-vores, rodents, and marsupials – have been reported from Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America, making the virus a worldwide problem in zoological settings [16,22–29].”
- Authors
- Cardeti, G., Mariano, V., Eleni, C., Aloisi, M., Grifoni, G., Sittinieri, S., Dante, G., Antognetti, V., Foglia, E. A., Cersini, A., & Nardi, A.
- Affiliations
- Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Regioni Lazio e Toscana (IT)
- Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna "Bruno Ubertini" (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Cardeti, Giusy
- ORCID
- Venue
- Virology Journal
- Published
- 2016-11-28
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 193-193
- ISSN
- 1743-422X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5127039
- OpenAlex
- W2559537764
- Cited by
- 31
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 1.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Virology Journal (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana "M.Aleandri"
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Animal Science and Zoology › Animal Virus Infections Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Viral Infections and Immunology Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Virology and Viral Diseases
- Keywords
- encephalomyocarditis virus, Macaca sylvanus, Hystrix cristata, Barbary macaque, crested porcupine, non-human primates, zoonotic potential, human-animal interface, viral outbreak, myocardial necrosis, phylogenetic analysis
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Exotic, Animals, Animals, Zoo, Disease Outbreaks, Encephalomyocarditis virus, Italy, Macaca, Rodent Diseases, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Cardiovirus Infections, Primate Diseases, Porcupines
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