Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Heinzelova 55, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
Vet Microbiol. 2012 Oct 12;159(3-4):504-8. doi: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2012.04.038. Epub 2012 May 9.
West Nile virus (WNV) is an emerging zoonotic pathogen with rapid global expansion. The virus circulation is confirmed in many countries of Mediterranean Basin and Southern and Central Europe. In our study detection of specific WNV antibodies was performed in horses and cattle sera samples collected from October 2010 to April 2011. Serum samples were randomly taken from different parts of Croatia and tested by IgG and IgM ELISA. Positive serological results were confirmed by virus neutralization assay (VN-assay) and plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT). Results showed that WNV antibodies were present in 72 out of 2098 horse sera (3.43%) and 3 of 2695 cattle sera (0.11%). The highest seroprevalence was found in Eastern Croatia in counties next to Hungarian, Serbian and Bosnia and Herzegovinian state borders. In Adriatic part of Croatia positive animals were found only in the westernmost county, near Slovenian and Italian borders. Geographic distribution and number of positive horses indicated that WNV is highly present in Croatia and spreading from East to West. However, positive horses in westernmost part of country indicate possible second origin of spreading. Location of serological positive cattle supports the hypothesis that seropositive cattle could be indicators of high WNV activity in the respective geographic regions.
西尼罗河病毒（WNV）是一种新兴的人畜共患病原体，具有快速的全球扩张。该病毒已在许多地中海盆地国家以及南欧和中欧国家得到证实。在我们的研究中，对 2010 年 10 月至 2011 年 4 月期间采集的马和牛血清样本进行了特定 WNV 抗体的检测。从克罗地亚的不同地区随机采集血清样本，并通过 IgG 和 IgM ELISA 进行检测。通过病毒中和测定（VN 测定）和蚀斑减少中和试验（PRNT）确认阳性血清学结果。结果表明，在 2098 份马血清中，有 72 份（3.43%）和 2695 份牛血清中有 3 份（0.11%）存在 WNV 抗体。在靠近匈牙利、塞尔维亚和波斯尼亚和黑塞哥维那边境的克罗地亚东部地区，血清阳性率最高。在克罗地亚的亚得里亚海地区，仅在最西部的县发现了阳性动物，靠近斯洛文尼亚和意大利边境。阳性马匹的地理分布和数量表明，WNV 在克罗地亚高度流行，并从东向西传播。然而，在该国最西部发现的阳性马匹表明，传播可能存在第二个来源。血清学阳性牛的分布位置支持了这样的假设，即血清阳性牛可能是各自地理区域WNV 高活性的指标。
