Abstract
Little is known about the occurrence of tick-borne encephalitis in Romania. Sheep are an infection source for humans and are useful sentinels for risk analysis. We demonstrate high antibody prevalence (15.02%) among sheep used as sentinels for this disease in 80% of the tested localities in 5 counties of northwestern Romania.
Highlights
Little is known about the occurrence of tick-borne encephalitis in Romania
Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) has been reported previously in Romania, but few studies confirmed the presence of the virus [7,8,9,10]
We used sheep as sentinels for TBE virus distribution in northwestern Romania and identified the virus by VNT in 15.02% of sheep in 40 of 50 examined localities in 5 counties
Summary
Little is known about the occurrence of tick-borne encephalitis in Romania. Sheep are an infection source for humans and are useful sentinels for risk analysis. I. ricinus ticks are widely distributed in Romania [2] and are the most common ticks found on a variety of vertebrate hosts, including humans [3,4]. Large domestic animals such as goats, sheep, and cattle are potential hosts for I. ricinus ticks. These animals may develop an antibody response after infection with TBE virus without showing clinical signs and are a source of TBE virus among humans who consume nonpasteurized milk and milk products, which makes them valuable sentinels for the identification of TBE risk areas [5]. The purpose of this study was to determine the current TBE virus infection status in northwestern Romania by using sheep as sentinels for TBE virus circulation
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