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A nationwide seroprevalence screening for West Nile virus and Tick‐borne encephalitis virus in the population of Bulgaria
Author(s) -
Christova Iva,
Panayotova Elitsa,
Tchakarova Simona,
Taseva Evgenia,
Trifonova Iva,
Gladnishka Teodora
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.24855
Subject(s) - seroprevalence , tick borne encephalitis virus , flavivirus , virology , encephalitis , population , west nile virus , virus , tick borne encephalitis , geography , biology , veterinary medicine , medicine , antibody , environmental health , serology , immunology
To assess local circulation and risk for human infections with West Nile virus (WNV) and Tick‐borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) in Bulgaria, a nationwide seroprevalence study was conducted. In total, 1451 residents of all 28 districts in Bulgaria were tested for WNV‐specific and TBEV‐specific IgG antibodies. The survey found overall seroprevalence of 1.5% and 0.6%, respectively. The highest WNV seroprevalence was found in Sofia Province and districts near the river Danube. TBEV circulation was detected among residents of six districts. The results showed that the two virus infections seem to be more wide‐spread in the country as has been described.