Diagnostic and phylogenetic perspectives of the 2023 Murray Valley encephalitis virus outbreak in Australia: an observational study

作者：Annaleise R. Howard‐Jones, Jackie E. Mahar, Kate Proudmore, Grace Butel-Simoes, John‐Sebastian Eden, Matthew J. Neave, Patrick Mileto, Linda Hueston, Kevin Freeman, Justin Ellem, Leon Caly, Chisha Sikazwe, Avram Levy, Ashmitha Thomas, Carmel Taylor, Nina Kurucz, Kirsten Smyth, Amy V. Jennison, Peter W. Moore, Rose Wright, Peter T. Mee, Anna Brischetto, Rebecca Feldman, Dominic E. Dwyer, Matthew VN O'Sullivan, Andrew A. Mahony, Morgyn S. Warner, Lito E. Papanicolas, Sanmarié Schlebusch, Chuan Kok Lim, Rob Baird, David Speers, David T. Williams, Bart J. Currie, Jen Kok · 发表于：The Lancet Microbe · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.lanmic.2025.101089 · 被引用次数：8 · 研究领域：Mosquito-borne diseases and control、Cytomegalovirus and herpesvirus research、HIV Research and Treatment

BACKGROUND: An outbreak of Murray Valley encephalitis virus (MVEV), the largest since 1974, was observed in Australia between Jan 1 and July 31, 2023. This study aims to characterise the utility of diagnostic platforms, testing algorithms, and genomic characteristics of MVEV to facilitate a comprehensive framework for MVEV testing and surveillance in the outbreak setting. METHODS: In this observational study, we assessed flavivirus diagnostics for all patients with suspected Murray Valley encephalitis in Australia from Jan 1 to July 31, 2023. We included all patients with confirmed Murray Valley encephalitis, probable Murray Valley encephalitis, or acute unspecified flavivirus infection using the Communicable Diseases Network Australia case definition. Cases were excluded if an alternative diagnosis was identified. We collected blood, serum, cerebrospinal fluid, brain tissue, urine, or a combination of these samples, as appropriate and at the discretion of the treating clinician. We conducted multimodal diagnostic testing, which included flavivirus-specific serological and nucleic acid amplification testing. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing, including next-generation deep sequencing, target-enrichment, and targeted amplification, was conducted on human and representative mosquito-derived samples obtained from established mosquito population surveillance programmes for phylogenetic analysis. FINDINGS: 27 patients with encephalitis were assessed for MVEV between Jan 1, 20...