Rift Valley fever virus seroprevalence among ruminants and humans in northeast Kenya

Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a zoonotic vector-borne disease present in much of Africa, and the Arabic peninsula. During outbreaks, the case fatality is high in young ruminants and there may be abortion storms, human disease is usually mild but some may suffer fatal hemorrhagic fever. Outbreaks in...

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Main Authors: Lindahl, Johanna F., Njeru, I., Karanja, J., Grace, Delia, Bett, Bernard K.
Format: Ponencia
Language:Inglés
Published: International Livestock Research Institute 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/77161
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author Lindahl, Johanna F.
Njeru, I.
Karanja, J.
Grace, Delia
Bett, Bernard K.
author_browse Bett, Bernard K.
Grace, Delia
Karanja, J.
Lindahl, Johanna F.
Njeru, I.
author_facet Lindahl, Johanna F.
Njeru, I.
Karanja, J.
Grace, Delia
Bett, Bernard K.
author_sort Lindahl, Johanna F.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a zoonotic vector-borne disease present in much of Africa, and the Arabic peninsula. During outbreaks, the case fatality is high in young ruminants and there may be abortion storms, human disease is usually mild but some may suffer fatal hemorrhagic fever. Outbreaks in East Africa occur after periods of heavy prolonged rains, such as during El Niño southern oscillations, which lead to a sudden increase in the number of vectors hatched. Between outbreaks, there are indications that the virus is still circulating in some ecologies. Kenya has suffered repeated serious outbreaks of RVF, with high morbidity in humans and animals, and also severe economic consequences. In the northern of Kenya, a hot spot for RVF outbreaks, there are continuous expansions of irrigation schemes, which enable the societies to be less susceptible to droughts. However, there are concerns that the increased irrigation would provide more vector breeding grounds, and thus cause people living close to be more exposed to vector-borne diseases. In this study, 1117 serum samples were collected from humans in the age 5-90 years old, in the irrigated area, a riverine area, and the close-by district where people are fully depending on pastoralism. Samples were tested with a competitive ELISA detecting both IgM and IgG antibodies. Overall seroprevalence was 21.9%, and univarible analyses could find no difference between the three areas, but men were found to be significantly more seropositive than women (26.2 and 18.8% respectively, p=0.004). Ruminants (sheep, goats, and cattle) were also sampled within the irrigation. A total of 1997 animals were sampled, and tested with the same ELISA as the human samples. Overall seroprevalence was 25.6%, with no difference between the seroprevalences in goats, sheep and cattle. Juveniles had lower seroprevalence rates than adults, 12.3% compared to 30.2% (p<0.001). Since the last outbreak occurred in 2006-2007, juveniles could not have been infected during that outbreak. In conclusion, the study confirms that RVF can be circulating in ruminants between epidemics in irrigation schemes. However, the human sampling did not show any evidence that living in irrigation schemes would make people more exposed, although the exposure detected here is cumulative and longitudinal surveys may be more suitable to detect differences in infection rates.
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spelling CGSpace771612025-11-04T19:57:16Z Rift Valley fever virus seroprevalence among ruminants and humans in northeast Kenya Lindahl, Johanna F. Njeru, I. Karanja, J. Grace, Delia Bett, Bernard K. animal diseases goats sheep health small ruminants zoonoses Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a zoonotic vector-borne disease present in much of Africa, and the Arabic peninsula. During outbreaks, the case fatality is high in young ruminants and there may be abortion storms, human disease is usually mild but some may suffer fatal hemorrhagic fever. Outbreaks in East Africa occur after periods of heavy prolonged rains, such as during El Niño southern oscillations, which lead to a sudden increase in the number of vectors hatched. Between outbreaks, there are indications that the virus is still circulating in some ecologies. Kenya has suffered repeated serious outbreaks of RVF, with high morbidity in humans and animals, and also severe economic consequences. In the northern of Kenya, a hot spot for RVF outbreaks, there are continuous expansions of irrigation schemes, which enable the societies to be less susceptible to droughts. However, there are concerns that the increased irrigation would provide more vector breeding grounds, and thus cause people living close to be more exposed to vector-borne diseases. In this study, 1117 serum samples were collected from humans in the age 5-90 years old, in the irrigated area, a riverine area, and the close-by district where people are fully depending on pastoralism. Samples were tested with a competitive ELISA detecting both IgM and IgG antibodies. Overall seroprevalence was 21.9%, and univarible analyses could find no difference between the three areas, but men were found to be significantly more seropositive than women (26.2 and 18.8% respectively, p=0.004). Ruminants (sheep, goats, and cattle) were also sampled within the irrigation. A total of 1997 animals were sampled, and tested with the same ELISA as the human samples. Overall seroprevalence was 25.6%, with no difference between the seroprevalences in goats, sheep and cattle. Juveniles had lower seroprevalence rates than adults, 12.3% compared to 30.2% (p<0.001). Since the last outbreak occurred in 2006-2007, juveniles could not have been infected during that outbreak. In conclusion, the study confirms that RVF can be circulating in ruminants between epidemics in irrigation schemes. However, the human sampling did not show any evidence that living in irrigation schemes would make people more exposed, although the exposure detected here is cumulative and longitudinal surveys may be more suitable to detect differences in infection rates. 2016-09-04 2016-09-29T19:02:17Z 2016-09-29T19:02:17Z Presentation https://hdl.handle.net/10568/77161 en Open Access application/pdf International Livestock Research Institute Lindahl, J., Njeru, I., Karanja, J., Grace, D. and Bett, B. 2016. Rift Valley fever virus seroprevalence among ruminants and humans in northeast Kenya. Presentation at the first joint conference of the Association of Institutions for Tropical Veterinary Medicine and the Society of Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Berlin, Germany, 4–8 September 2016. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI.
spellingShingle animal diseases
goats
sheep
health
small ruminants
zoonoses
Lindahl, Johanna F.
Njeru, I.
Karanja, J.
Grace, Delia
Bett, Bernard K.
Rift Valley fever virus seroprevalence among ruminants and humans in northeast Kenya
title Rift Valley fever virus seroprevalence among ruminants and humans in northeast Kenya
title_full Rift Valley fever virus seroprevalence among ruminants and humans in northeast Kenya
title_fullStr Rift Valley fever virus seroprevalence among ruminants and humans in northeast Kenya
title_full_unstemmed Rift Valley fever virus seroprevalence among ruminants and humans in northeast Kenya
title_short Rift Valley fever virus seroprevalence among ruminants and humans in northeast Kenya
title_sort rift valley fever virus seroprevalence among ruminants and humans in northeast kenya
topic animal diseases
goats
sheep
health
small ruminants
zoonoses
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/77161
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