Institut Pasteur de Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2013 Sep 12;7(9):e2429. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002429. eCollection 2013.
In northern Tunisia, the co-circulation of two related sand fly-borne phleboviruses, Toscana virus (TOSV) and Punique virus (PUNV) was previously demonstrated. In contrast to TOSV, a prominent human pathogen, there is no data supporting that PUNV is capable to infect and cause disease to humans. We studied the respective involvement of TOSV and PUNV in human infections in northern Tunisia through a seroprevalence study.
The presence of TOSV and PUNV neutralising antibodies (NT-Ab) was tested in human sera collected from 5 districts of the governorate of Bizerte, and the titres of NT-Ab were estimated by microneutralisation (MN) assay.
A total of 1,273 sera were processed. TOSV and PUNV NT-Ab were detected in 522 (41%) and 111 sera (8.72%) respectively. TOSV seroprevalence varied from 17.2% to 59.4% depending on the district. Analysis of TOSV geometric mean titre values demonstrated a constant increase according to the age. The vast majority of sera containing NT-Ab were found to be more reactive toward TOSV than PUNV. Indeed, past infections with PUNV and TOSV were undisputable for 5 and 414 sera, respectively.
PUNV may be capable to infect humans but at a low rate. TOSV is responsible for the vast majority of human infections by sand fly-borne phleboviruses in northern Tunisia. TOSV must be considered by physician and tested in diagnostic laboratories for patients with meningitis and unexplained fever in northern Tunisia.
在突尼斯北部，曾证实两种相关的沙蝇传播黄病毒（Toscana 病毒[TOSV]和 Punique 病毒[PUNV]）同时流行。与主要的人类病原体 TOSV 不同，没有数据支持 PUNV 能够感染和引起人类疾病。我们通过血清流行率研究研究了 TOSV 和 PUNV 在突尼斯北部人类感染中的各自作用。
在突尼斯比塞大省的 5 个区采集的人类血清中检测 TOSV 和 PUNV 的中和抗体（NT-Ab），并用微量中和（MN）试验估计 NT-Ab 的滴度。
共处理了 1273 份血清。分别在 522 份（41%）和 111 份血清（8.72%）中检测到 TOSV 和 PUNV NT-Ab。TOSV 血清流行率因区而异，范围为 17.2%至 59.4%。分析 TOSV 几何平均滴度值表明，随着年龄的增长，其呈持续增加。发现含有 NT-Ab 的绝大多数血清对 TOSV 的反应性强于 PUNV。实际上，过去有 5 份和 414 份血清与 PUNV 和 TOSV 的感染是无可争议的。
PUNV 可能能够感染人类，但感染率较低。TOSV 是突尼斯北部沙蝇传播黄病毒引起的绝大多数人类感染的原因。在突尼斯北部，医生应考虑到 TOSV，并在诊断实验室对脑膜炎和不明原因发热的患者进行检测。
