The University of Giessen virus ( scientifically Giessen reptarenavirus , UGV ) is a virus species that belongs to the genus Reptarenavirus . The virus belongs to a group of pathogens that were isolated in 2015 from boas (Boidae) and pythons in connection with the so-called inclusion body disease of giant snakes ( boid inclusion body disease BIBD) . Co-infections with several reptarena viruses and also co-infections with several isolates of the University of Giessen virus (UGV-1 to -4) were found in individual snakes . The individual snakes were originally sent to the Institute for Veterinary Pathology at the University of Gießen , and a research group from Finland was able to identify and cultivate the viruses in the autopsy samples .
Complete evidence that UGV is causally involved in the mostly fatal infectious disease is still pending, as the large number of arenaviruses detected in diseased animals makes it difficult to distinguish between cooperative or individual pathogenicity and apathogenicity of the UGV virus strains.
Phylogenetically , the UGV with the Suri Vanera virus ( English Suri vanera virus 1, 2 , SVaV-1 and -2, so far officially unconfirmed) and the Tavallinen-Suomalainen-Mies virus ( English Tavallinen suomalainen mies virus 1, 2 , TSMV-1 and -2, also so far only as proposed) are very closely related. The UGV and the University Helsinki virus (UHV), which was initially also isolated in these snakes, differ significantly from the classic arenaviruses that are transmitted by rodents . In particular, the sequence of the Z protein and the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase shows clear differences to the rodent-associated arenaviruses, so that transmission by rodents as vectors in UGV and UHV does not appear likely.
literature
J. Hepojoki et al .: Arenavirus Coinfections Are Common in Snakes with Boid Inclusion Body Disease . Journal of Virology (2015) 89 (16): pp. 8657-8660, PMID 26041290
U. Hetzel et al .: Isolation, Identification, and Characterization of Novel Arenaviruses, the Etiological Agents of Boid Inclusion Body Disease. Journal of Virology (2013) 87 (20): pp. 10918-10935, PMID 23926354
↑ J. Hepojoki, P. Salmenperä, T. Sironen, U. Hetzel, Y. Korzyukov, A. Kipar, O. Vapalahtia; SR Ross (Ed.): Arenavirus Coinfections Are Common in Snakes with Boid Inclusion Body Disease , in: J Virol. 89 (16), Aug. 15, 2015; Pp. 8657-8660. doi: 10.1128 / JVI.01112-15 , PMC 4524219 (free full text), PMID 26041290
