Vector borne and zoonotic diseases
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Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. · Jan 2007
Seroprevalence of West Nile virus and tick-borne encephalitis virus in southeastern Turkey: first evidence for tick-borne encephalitis virus infections.
West Nile virus (WNV) and tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) are among the medically important Flaviviruses that cause significant morbidity and mortality in humans. In this study, seroprevalence of WNV and TBEV in sera from two state medical hospitals from the southeastern part of Turkey was investigated. One hundred eighty-one serum samples were evaluated for WNV immunoglobulin G (IgG) by an indirect immunofluorescence test (IIFT) and for IgG antibodies against TBEV by a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit with enhanced sensitivity and specificity. ⋯ Four samples with WNV IgG antibodies were also positive for TBEV IgG antibodies. TBEV IgM was detected in 9 of 39 (23%) of all seroreactive sera, where IgM positivity were accompanied by IgG for 6 samples. These results suggest the presence of possible human WNV and TBEV infections in southeastern Turkey where vector activity have previously been detected.
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Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. · Jan 2007
Pseudocowpox virus: the etiological agent of contagious ecthyma (Auzdyk) in camels (Camelus dromedarius) in the Arabian peninsula.
We have determined the nucleotide sequence of DNA extracted from pustules, saliva, and blood of camels presenting with contagious ecthyma, in Bahrain and also from a sample (SACamel) of infected tissue from a camel that had presented with contagious ecthyma in 1998 in Saudi Arabia (1). Sequence homologies and phylogenetic analysis showed that this extracted DNA was more closely related to Pseudocowpox virus (PCPV) than Orf virus (ORFV), which infects sheep, goats, and other animal species. The phylogeny also demonstrated that PCPV in Arabian camels was phylogenetically distinct from, and circulates independently of, ruminant-associated PCPV from Europe.