June 9, 2026, 1:00 p.mJune 9, 2026, 3:59 p.m
In Austria, researchers have detected the Alongshan virus, which is transmitted by ticks, for the first time. Scientists found the virus in Switzerland several years ago.
Researchers from the Center for Virology at Meduni Vienna discovered the virus in tick samples, the university announced on Tuesday. Genetic analyzes suggested that the virus had already established itself in Central Europe at least 20 years ago. The researchers published their results in the specialist journal “The Lancet Microbe”.
The Alongshan virus is transmitted by ticks – also in Switzerland.Image: sda
In Switzerland, researchers had already detected the Alongshan virus in ticks a few years ago. For a study published in the journal “Plos One” in November 2023, a research team from the University of Zurich (UZH) examined the RNA and DNA of over 10,000 ticks for viruses. They detected the Alongshan virus in approximately one in thirteen ticks.
The researchers are currently examining the serum of humans and various mammals for the pathogen, as UZH researcher Cornel Fraefel, who was already involved in the study published in 2023, told the Keystone-SDA news agency when asked. The results of this study are still pending.
Health relevance still unclear
It is still unclear whether the variants of the virus circulating in Europe cause disease in humans. The variant, originally discovered in China in 2017, is associated with fever and tick-borne encephalitis (TBE)-like symptoms.
In addition to around 5,000 ticks, the Austrian research team also examined 2,000 blood samples from patients for the virus, but was unable to detect it directly. However, high levels of antibodies were found in two people. According to study leader Judith Aberle, this shows that infections have already occurred, even if they appear to be rare. (hkl/sda/apa)