Search

Your search keyword '"Elena Fălcuţă"' showing total 4 results
Start Over Author "Elena Fălcuţă" Topic medicine
4 results on '"Elena Fălcuţă"'

1. Evidence of West Nile Virus (WNV) Circulation in Wild Birds and WNV RNA Negativity in Mosquitoes of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, Romania, 2016

Author

Ana Vasić, Luanda Elena Oșlobanu, Mihai Marinov, Luciana Alexandra Crivei, Ioana Alexandra Rățoi, Adriana Aniță, Dragoș Aniță, Alexandru Doroșencu, Vasile Alexe, Ștefan Răileanu, Predrag Simeunović, Cristian Raileanu, Elena Falcuța, Florian Liviu Prioteasa, Jovan Bojkovski, Ivan Pavlović, Alexander Mathis, Birke Andrea Tews, Gheorghe Savuţa, Eva Veronesi, Cornelia Silaghi, and the SCOPES AMSAR training group

Subjects
West Nile virus, wild birds, VNT, ELISA, Aedes spp., Anopheles spp., Danube Delta, Medicine
Abstract

West Nile virus (WNV) is a zoonotic flavivirus whose transmission cycle in nature includes wild birds as amplifying hosts and ornithophilic mosquito vectors. Bridge vectors can transmit WNV to mammal species potentially causing West Nile Fever. Wild bird migration is a mode of WNV introduction into new areas. The Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve (DDBR) is a major stopover of wild birds migrating between Europe and Africa. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of WNV in the DDBR during the 2016 transmission season in wild birds and mosquitoes. Blood from 68 wild birds (nine different species) trapped at four different locations was analyzed by competitive ELISA and Virus Neutralization Test (VNT), revealing positive results in 8/68 (11.8%) of the wild birds by ELISA of which six samples (three from juvenile birds) were confirmed seropositive by VNT. Mosquitoes (n = 6523, 5 genera) were trapped with CDC Mini Light traps at two locations and in one location resting mosquitoes were caught. The presence of WNV RNA was tested in 134 pools by reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). None of the pools was positive for WNV-specific RNA. Based on the obtained results, WNV was circulating in the DDBR during 2016.

Published
2019
Full Text
View/download PDF

2. Using Rapid Analyte Measurement Platform (RAMP) as a Tool for an Early Warning System Assessing West Nile Virus Epidemiological Risk in Bucharest, Romania

Author

Florian Liviu Prioteasa, Georgiana Victorița Tiron, Sorin Dinu, and Elena Fălcuţă

Subjects
West Nile virus, rapid screening, mosquito pools, real-time RT-PCR, RAMP, false positive, Medicine
Abstract

West Nile virus (WNV) is the most widely spread arbovirus in the world. Early detection of this virus in mosquito populations is essential for implementing rapid vector control measures to prevent outbreaks. Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (real-time RT-PCR) is a powerful tool for the detection of WNV in mosquito pools, but it is a time- and resource-consuming assay. We used a Rapid Analyte Measurement Platform (RAMP) assay in a vector surveillance program for rapid detection of WNV in mosquitoes collected in Bucharest city, Romania, in 2021. The positive mosquito pools were tested for confirmation with real-time RT-PCR. Three out of the 24 RAMP assay positive pools were not confirmed by real-time RT-PCR. We consider that RAMP assay can be used as a fast and reliable method for the screening of WNV presence in mosquito pools, but we recommend that samples with values ranging from 30 to 100 RAMP units should fall in a grey zone and should be considered for real-time RT-PCR confirmation.

Published
2022
Full Text
View/download PDF

3. Practical management plan for invasive mosquito species in Europe: I. Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus)

Author

Igor Pajovic, Elena Fălcuţă, Dušan Petrić, Francis Schaffner, Eleonora Flacio, Carla A. Sousa, Claudio Venturelli, Luciano Toma, Carles Aranda, Enkelejda Velo, Bulent Alten, Norbert Becker, Dimitrios P. Papachristos, Ognyan Mikov, Marco Di Luca, Ana Klobučar, Christophe Lagneau, Marlen I. Vasquez, Arjan Stroo, Marco Carrieri, Paola Angelini, Marija Zgomba, Antonios Michaelakis, Enrih Merdić, and Romeo Bellini

Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty, Insecticide resistance, Aedes albopictus, Mosquito Control, Range (biology), 030231 tropical medicine, Infection control, Plan (drawing), Mosquito Vectors, Emergency treatment, medicine.disease_cause, Medical and Health Sciences, Dengue fever, Dengue, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Aedes, Health Sciences, medicine, Animals, 030212 general & internal medicine, Chikungunya, Environmental planning, Insecticide, Management plan, invasive mosquitoes, Aedes albopictus, biology, Public health, Community participation, Yellow fever, Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health, biology.organism_classification, medicine.disease, Europe, Infectious Diseases, Geography, Tiger mosquito, Introduced Species
Abstract

Aedes albopictus, also known as the “Asian Tiger Mosquito”, is an invasive mosquito species to Europe causing high concern in public health due to its severe nuisance and its vectorial capacity for pathogens such as dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika. Consequently, the responsible authorities implement management activities to reduce its population density, possibly to below noxious and epidemiological thresholds. In urban areas, these aims are difficult to achieve because of the species’ ability to develop in a wide range of artificial breeding sites, mainly private properties. This document (Management Plan) has been structured to serve as a comprehensive practical and technical guide for stakeholders in organizing the vector control activities in the best possible way. The current plan includes coordinated actions such as standardized control measures and quality control activities, monitoring protocols, activities for stakeholders and local communities, and an emergency vector control plan to reduce the risk of an epidemic.

Published
2020
Full Text
View/download PDF

4. West Nile virus circulation in South-Eastern Romania, 2011 to 2013

Author

I R Pănculescu-Gătej, A Sîrbu, A I Cotar, G Oprişan, D Bădescu, Sorin Dinu, Cornelia Svetlana Ceianu, Paul Reiter, Florian Liviu Prioteasa, and Elena Fălcuţă

Subjects
Lineage (genetic), Epidemiology, West Nile virus, viruses, Molecular Sequence Data, Molecular evidence, medicine.disease_cause, Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction, Disease Outbreaks, Phylogenetics, Virology, Culex pipiens, medicine, Animals, Humans, Phylogeny, Genome, biology, Transmission (medicine), Romania, Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health, virus diseases, Outbreak, biology.organism_classification, nervous system diseases, Culicidae, RNA, Viral, South eastern, West Nile Fever
Abstract

Lineage 2 West Nile virus (WNV), previously found only in sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar, was identified in Hungary in 2004 and has rapidly expanded in Europe in the past decade. Following a significant outbreak of West Nile fever with neurological cases caused by lineage 1 WNV in Romania in 1996, scattered cases have been recorded in the south-east of the country in each transmission season. Another outbreak, affecting a larger area and caused by lineage 2 WNV, was recorded in 2010. We analysed human sera from neuroinvasive West Nile fever cases and mosquitoes, sampled in south-eastern Romania between 2011 and 2013, for the presence of WNV genome, and obtained partial NS5 and envelope glycoprotein sequences. Human- and mosquito-derived WNV sequences were highly similar (99%) to Volgograd 2007 lineage 2 WNV and differed from isolates previously detected in central and southern Europe. WNV was detected in one pool of Culex pipiens s.l. males, documenting vertical transmission. Lineage 4 WNV, of unknown pathogenicity to mammals, was found in the amphibian-feeding mosquito Uranotaenia unguiculata from the Danube Delta. Our results present molecular evidence for the maintenance of the same isolates of Volgograd 2007-like lineage 2 WNV in south-eastern Romania between 2011 and 2013.

Catalog

Books, media, physical & digital resources
See catalog results