The emergence of West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV) in addition to the autochthonous tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) in Europe causes rising concern for public and animal health. The first equine case of West Nile neuroinvasive disease in Austria was diagnosed in 2016. As a consequence, a cross-sectional seroprevalence study was conducted in 2017, including 348 equids from eastern Austria. Serum samples reactive by ELISA for either flavivirus immunoglobulin G or M were further analyzed with the plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT-80) to identify the specific etiologic agent. Neutralizing antibody prevalences excluding vaccinated equids were found to be 5.3% for WNV, 15.5% for TBEV, 0% for USUV, and 1.2% for WNV from autochthonous origin. Additionally, reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was performed to detect WNV nucleic acid in horse sera and was found to be negative in all cases. Risk factor analysis did not identify any factors significantly associated with seropositivity.

• Keywords
• Austria, Usutu virus, West Nile virus, epidemiology, flavivirus, horses, seroprevalence, tick-borne encephalitis virus,
• MeSH
• Endemic Diseases veterinary   MeSH
• Equidae virology   MeSH
• Flavivirus immunology   MeSH
• Flavivirus Infections epidemiology   veterinary   MeSH
• Encephalitis, Tick-Borne epidemiology   veterinary   MeSH
• Horses MeSH
• Horse Diseases epidemiology   MeSH
• Antibodies, Viral blood   MeSH
• Cross-Sectional Studies MeSH
• Risk Factors MeSH
• Seroepidemiologic Studies MeSH
• West Nile virus immunology   MeSH
• Encephalitis Viruses, Tick-Borne immunology   MeSH
• West Nile Fever epidemiology   veterinary   MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Geographicals
• Austria epidemiology   MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Antibodies, Viral MeSH