NICE, FRANCE — The Toscana virus has been identified for the first time in sandflies from southern France. Toscana virus infection is now epidemic in Italy, and is an emerging cause of meningitis and encephalitis in Spain and France.
Toscana virus is a ribonucleic acid envelope virus from the family Bunyaviridae and genus Phlebovirus. Illnesses caused by Toscana virus typically mimic a flu-like syndrome with fever, headache, stiff neck, and photophobia, but can involve the central nervous system, Dr. Philippe Parola said at the 16th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.
The first case of Toscana infection acquired in France was reported in 1997 in a German traveler, followed by serological evidence in blood donors in 2002–2003, and two acute cases—meningitis and febrile illness—in 2004.
In an effort to identify potential vectors in France, Dr. Parola and associates trapped sandflies near dog kennels and horse stables surrounding Marseille and Nice over 7 days during the summer of 2005. Three pools from Marseille were positive, containing a virus closely related to two genotypes isolated in Italy. Male flies were positive, suggesting that they may act as reservoirs of the virus since males don't bite, said Dr. Parola, of the Faculty of Medicine, Hôpital Nord, Marseille, France. Sergentomyia minuta sandflies were shown for the first time to be infected with Toscana virus. This species readily bites reptiles, but its affinity to bite humans is poorly understood.
Two pools in Marseille and one in Nice were found to be positive for Phlebovirus generic primers, but negative for Toscana-specific primers.
Sequence analysis showed a high genetic diversity with recognized phleboviruses, suggesting that this virus could represent a new species within the Phlebovirus genus. The virus was provisionally named the Massilia virus, Dr. Parola said.