title: Spreading of West Nile virus infection in Croatia.
abstract: West Nile virus (WNV) is an emerging zoonotic pathogen with rapid global expansion. The virus circulation is confirmed in many countries of Mediterranean Basin and Southern and Central Europe. In our study detection of specific WNV antibodies was performed in horses and cattle sera samples collected from October 2010 to April 2011. Serum samples were randomly taken from different parts of Croatia and tested by IgG and IgM ELISA. Positive serological results were confirmed by virus neutralization assay (VN-assay) and plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT). Results showed that WNV antibodies were present in 72 out of 2098 horse sera (3.43%) and 3 of 2695 cattle sera (0.11%). The highest seroprevalence was found in Eastern Croatia in counties next to Hungarian, Serbian and Bosnia and Herzegovinian state borders. In Adriatic part of Croatia positive animals were found only in the westernmost county, near Slovenian and Italian borders. Geographic distribution and number of positive horses indicated that WNV is highly present in Croatia and spreading from East to West. However, positive horses in westernmost part of country indicate possible second origin of spreading. Location of serological positive cattle supports the hypothesis that seropositive cattle could be indicators of high WNV activity in the respective geographic regions.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Heinzelova 55, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. ljbarbic@vef.hr
authors.forename: Ljubo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Barbić
authors.forename: Eddy
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Listeš
authors.forename: Sanda
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Katić
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Stevanović
authors.forename: Josip
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Madić
authors.forename: Vilim
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Starešina
authors.forename: Ankica
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Labrović
authors.forename: Annapia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Gennaro
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Savini
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D017523:Croatia / Q000453:epidemiology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D006736:Horses; D009500:Neutralization Tests / Q000662:veterinary; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D014901:West Nile Fever / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D014902:West Nile virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral