Failure of Japanese encephalitis vaccine and infection in inducing neutralizing antibodies against West Nile virus, People's Republic of China.
We examined whether live attenuated Japanese encephalitis (JE) vaccine is effective in preventing West Nile virus (WNV) infection in the People's Republic of China. Three groups were recruited into the study: patients with Japanese encephalitis (JE), healthy controls vaccinated with live attenuated 2 SA14-14-vaccine against JE virus (JEV), and unvaccinated healthy controls. Serum samples were collected and screened for IgG antibodies against JEV by an indirect immunofluorescence assay. Positive samples were then analyzed for levels of antibodies against JEV and neutralizing antibodies against West Nile virus (WNV) by a plaque-reduction neutralization test (PRNT). Although most persons had medium to high levels of JEV-reactive IgG and neutralizing antibodies, only 2 of the 82 unvaccinated control samples were positive for the WNV-reactive antibodies. These findings suggest that previous JEV infection or vaccination did not induce adequate levels of WNV-reactive antibodies in the population studied. However, how these persons would respond to a secondary flavivirus infection and whether their prior experience with wild-type or attenuated JE vaccine will provide some cross-protection against WNV disease still warrants further investigation.
Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
Fang
F
Tang
Jiu-Song
JS
Zhang
Wei
W
Liu
Qui-Min
QM
Zhao
Fang
F
Zhang
Xiao-Ming
XM
Wu
Hong
H
Yang
Hinh
H
Ly
Wu-Chun
WC
Cao
D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D002681:China; D003429:Cross Reactions; D004664:Encephalitis Virus, Japanese / Q000276:immunology*; D004672:Encephalitis, Japanese / Q000276:immunology*; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D006801:Humans; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D014902:West Nile virus / Q000276:immunology*
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D014765:Viral Vaccines