Investigation into Usutu and West Nile viruses in ticks from wild birds in Northwestern Italy, 2012-2014

To assess the potential role of ticks as carriers of West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV), we tested 1721 ticks from 379 wild birds in Northwestern Italy between 2012 and 2014. Ticks were analyzed in pools using a pan-flavivirus real-time RT-PCR and positive pools were subjected to RT-PCR for USUV and WNV genome detection. All the tested samples resulted negative, suggesting that Ixodes spp. ticks, at least in our study area, are not competent vectors and not even exploitable sentinels for USUV and WNV.