[Prevalence of antibodies against Francisella tularensis in Castilla y León (Spain) before 1997].
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this paper was determine the prevalence of antibodies against Francisella tularensis in the representative sample of people from Castilla-León (Spain) before epidemic outbreak of end 1997.


METHODS
We obtain 4,825 sera (between april-1996 and april-1997) of people from Castilla-León. All sera were tested by a microagglutination technique to detect antibodies against Francisella tularensis. The positive sera were tested to determine cross-reaction with Brucella, Yersinia enterocolitica and Proteus in the tube agglutination tests.


RESULTS
We detected antibodies against Francisella tularensis in 9 (0,19%) of the 4,825 sera. Only one serum from the 9 seropositive was positive in the tube agglutination against Brucella. None of the 9 sera were positive against the remaining bacterial antigen tested.


CONCLUSIONS
In the people of Castilla-León before 1997 the prevalence of antibodies against Francisella tularensis was 0,19%.
Gutiérrez
M Purificación
MP
Area de Microbiología. Facultad de Medicina. Universidad de Valladolid. Spain. gutierrez@med.uva.es
Orduña
Antonio
A
Dueñas
Ana
A
Bratos
Miguel Angel
MA
Almaraz
Ana
A
Alamo
Rufino
R
Rodríguez Recio
M Jesús
MJ
Rodríguez Marcos
Henar
H
Rodríguez Torres
Antonio
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000372:Agglutination Tests; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D005604:Francisella tularensis / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D014406:Tularemia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic