Article

West Nile virus seroprevalence in blood donors from Central Anatolia, Turkey.

Virology Unit, Department of Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey.
Vector borne and zoonotic diseases (Larchmont, N.Y.) (impact factor: 2.61). 12/2009; 10(8):771-5. DOI:10.1089/vbz.2009.0130 pp.771-5
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT West Nile virus (WNV) is a reemerging flavivirus that has displayed a drastic change in epidemiology in the last decade. Data on WNV activity in Turkey are currently limited. This study investigated WNV exposure in blood donors from Central Anatolia, Turkey.
A total of 2516 sera, collected from blood donors at four major branches of the Turkish Red Crescent Middle Anatolia Regional Blood Center, were evaluated by a commercial WNV immunoglobulin G (IgG) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Positive and borderline samples were investigated further by a WNV IgG indirect immunofluorescence test (IIFT), IgG ELISAs for tick-borne encephalitis virus and dengue virus, an IgG IIFT for yellow fever virus, and a multi-Flavivirus biochip IgG IIFT. WNV antibody specificity and titer values were determined by plaque reduction neutralization assay. IgG avidity and IgM were determined for confirmed samples. IgM-positive samples were also evaluated by a real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assay.
Twenty-five samples (25/2516; 0.99%) were found reactive in the WNV ELISA/IIFT assays, and 14 could be confirmed by the plaque reduction neutralization assay (14/2516; 0.56%). All IgGs were of high avidity, and four samples (4/14; 28.6%), which were negative for viral RNA, were IgM positive. Although samples with neutralizing WNV IgGs had strong fluorescence intensity in IIFTs, no correlation between antibody titer values and IIFT intensity or quantitative ELISA results could be found. Three WNV nonreactive samples were positive in the dengue IgG ELISA test; one of these also displayed positive results for dengue virus in the mosaic biochip IIFT and reactivity in yellow fever virus IIFT.
WNV exposure is confirmed in 0.56% of the tested healthy blood donors in Central Anatolia, with evidence for dengue/yellow fever and/or other flaviviral infections. This study is the first to document WNV exposure in individuals from Konya, Yozgat, and Sivas provinces in Central Anatolia, and it also establishes viral activity in Ankara, the capital of Turkey.

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Keywords

antibody titer values
 
Central Anatolia
 
commercial WNV immunoglobulin G
 
dengue IgG ELISA test
 
displayed positive results
 
document WNV exposure
 
IgGs
 
major branches
 
multi-Flavivirus biochip IgG IIFT
 
neutralizing WNV IgGs
 
plaque reduction neutralization assay
 
quantitative ELISA results
 
Sivas provinces
 
tested healthy blood donors
 
Turkish Red Crescent Middle Anatolia Regional Blood Center
 
WNV antibody specificity
 
WNV ELISA/IIFT assays
 
WNV exposure
 
WNV IgG indirect immunofluorescence test
 
WNV nonreactive samples