title: Seroepidemiological study reveals regional co-occurrence of Lassa- and Hantavirus antibodies in Upper Guinea, West Africa.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the public health relevance of Lassa arenavirus and hantavirus infections in a subpopulation of recently febrile patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a human seroprevalence study, we enrolled 253 participants on the basis of reported high fever during the last 3 months. They represented roughly 20% of the population of Bantou and Tanganya villages. Comprehensive serological screening and confirmatory assays (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, immunofluorescence assay, Western blot analysis) with several Lassa virus and hantavirus antigens were used to ensure high specificity and broad detection capacity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found a Lassa IgG prevalence of 40.3% (102/253) and a hantavirus IgG prevalence of 1.2% (3/253). The Lassa IgM prevalence reached 2.8% (7/253).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High Lassa virus seroprevalence in recently febrile patients indicates that Lassa fever is a significant public health problem in the region. Human hantavirus infections also occur in the region but their public health relevance remains to be determined.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Virology, Charité School of Medicine, Helmut-Ruska-Haus, Berlin, Germany. boris.klempa@savba.sk
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Klempa
authors.forename: Kekoura
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koulemou
authors.forename: Brita
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Auste
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Emmerich
authors.forename: Corinna
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Thomé-Bolduan
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Günther
authors.forename: Lamine
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Koivogui
authors.forename: Detlev H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Krüger
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fichet-Calvet
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D060085:Coinfection / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D016701:Guinea / Q000453:epidemiology; D018778:Hantavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D007835:Lassa Fever / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies