Summary
On July 15, 2012, adult Anopheles hyrcanus (Pallas 1771) mosquitoes were caught next to a farm barn near Rust, Burgenland, close to Lake Neusiedl National Park in eastern Austria. Six weeks later, adults of this invasive species were also found in a sheep shelter outside the village of Oggau and another 2 weeks later, in a horse barn in Mörbisch. The morphological typing was confirmed genetically by amplification and sequencing of a 1,404-bp-long fragment within the 5.8S ribosomal RNA gene, the internal transcribed spacer 2, and the 28S ribosomal RNA gene. Out of two A. hyrcanus pools analyzed, one was found positive for Plasmodium sp. A 460-bp-long sequence within the mitochondrial cytochrome b region revealed 100 % identity to a sequence of a Plasmodium parasite identified in a New Zealand bellbird (Anthornis melanura). The Austrian finding sites are close to the Hungarian border. In Hungary, the occurrence of A. hyrcanus was already reported in 1963. A. hyrcanus is considered the most important potential vector of malaria in southern France today. In Austria, sporadic autochthonous malaria cases could emerge, caused by immigration from malaria-endemic countries and heavy tourism. However, the broad population coverage of the Austrian health care system makes the reestablishment of endemic areas for malaria unlikely.
Zusammenfassung
Am 15. Juli 2012 wurden adulte Stechmücken der Spezies Anopheles hyrcanus (Pallas 1771) bei Rust im Burgenland erstmalig in Österreich nachgewiesen. Am 28. August 2012 gelang ein Nachweis dieser invasiven Art auch in einem Schafstall bei Oggau am Neusiedler See und zwei Wochen danach in einem Pferdestall in Mörbisch. Die morphologische Bestimmung wurde mittels Sequenzierung eines 1.404 bp langen Fragmentes der genomischen DNS bestätigt. In einer von zwei gepoolten Proben konnte molekularbiologisch zudem Plasmodium sp. nachgewiesen werden: eine 460 bp lange Sequenz aus der mitochondrialen Cytochrom B Region zeigte 100 % Homologie mit der publizierten Sequenz einer aviären Plasmodie. Die beschriebenen Fundorte im Burgenland unterstreichen die Bedeutung anthropogener Bruthabitate für diese invasive Stechmücken-Art. A. hyrcanus ist in Ungarn schon seit 1963 bekannt und gilt in Südfrankreich als wichtigster Überträger autochthoner Malaria. Bei starkem Immigranten- oder Touristenaufkommen scheint ein lokales, spontanes Auftreten von Malaria auch in Österreich möglich. Die Etablierung endemischer Malariaherde ist aufgrund der breiten Abdeckung durch das österreichische Gesundheitssystem nicht zu erwarten.
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Acknowledgments
This study was partially funded by the Austrian Research Association (ÖFG) MOEL project no. 465/2010–11 and the EU grants HEALTH.2010.2.3.3-3 project no. 261391 EuroWestNile (http://eurowestnile.isciii.es/ewn), FP7-261504 EDENext, and FP7-262042 ERINHA. Thanks to Francis Schaffner for morphological confirmation of the species determination, to Sabine Maritschnik for drafting the map, and to Georg Krupitza and Valentin Olle for field work.
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Seidel, B., Silbermayr, K., Kolodziejek, J. et al. Detection of Plasmodium sp.-infested Anopheles hyrcanus (Pallas 1771) (Diptera: Culicidae) in Austria, 2012. Wien Klin Wochenschr 125, 139–143 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00508-013-0331-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00508-013-0331-5