Abstract
During 2008–2015 in South Africa, we conducted West Nile virus surveillance in 1,407 animals with neurologic disease and identified mostly lineage 2 cases in horses (7.4%, 79/1,069), livestock (1.5%, 2/132), and wildlife (0.5%, 1/206); 35% were fatal. Geographic correlation of horse cases with seropositive veterinarians suggests disease in horses can predict risk in humans.
Highlights
During 2008–2015 in South Africa, we conducted West Nile virus surveillance in 1,407 animals with neurologic disease and identified mostly lineage 2 cases in horses (7.4%, 79/1,069), livestock (1.5%, 2/132), and wildlife (0.5%, 1/206); 35% were fatal
West Nile virus (WNV) isolates are divided into 2 lineages [8]: lineage 1, which predominates in the Northern Hemisphere and Australia, and lineage 2, which is endemic to southern Africa and Madagascar and started emerging in central Europe in 2008 [9]
The Study We prospectively investigated horses and other animals with fever or neurologic signs during 2008–2015 and compared the geographic range of WNV-positive animals with that of WNV-seropositive veterinarians involved in equine, wildlife, and livestock disease management during 2011‒2012 [11]
Summary
All WNV-positive cases were tested for AHSV [13]. We compared WNV positivity with clinical signs in horses by logistic regression using crude odds ratios (ORs) and adjusted ORs (aORs) with 95% CIs (Stata 14; StataCorp LLC, College Station, Texas, USA) (online Technical Appendix Table). Real-time PCR results were positive for 24 cases; 20 isolates could be sequenced, and 18 clustered with lineage 2 (online Technical Appendix Figure). Most WNV-positive cases were from Gauteng Province (7.3%, 29/400), but detection rates were highest in Northern Cape (10.2%) and Eastern Cape. Multiple logistic regression models (online Technical Appendix Table) confirmed neurologic signs as a strong predictor (aOR 4.12, 95% CI 1.59–10.70) and fever a weak predictor
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