Prevalence of IgG antibodies for the West Nile virus in human population in Tripoli, Libya.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: West Nile fever (WNF) is a mosquito-borne viral infection, circulated in natural cycles between birds and mosquitoes, particularly Culex species. It is transmitted to humans through mosquito bites, and causes a variety of clinical outcomes, ranging from asymptomatic or mild febrile illness to severe men in go encepha- litis with some fatalities observed in older or immunocompromised patients. West Nile virus (WNV) transmission is considerably influenced by environmental conditions; and abundance of avifauna and mosquitoes.There are very few reports on WNV exposure in individuals from Tripoli City in Libya. The main objective was to provide basic epidemiological information about the WNV seroprevalence in the human population of Tripoli.

METHODS

A total of 400 serum samples were collected from persons (123 females, 277 males; age range: 15-78 yr) approaching the Tripoli Reference Laboratory for the purpose of obtaining health certificate; during the period from August to October 2013. The presence of WNV IgG antibodies was evaluated by a commercial kit based on WNV immunoglobulin G (IgG) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

RESULTS

It was observed that 2.75% (11/400) samples were found reactive in the WNV ELISA assay. This result suggests that WNV has a low prevalence in the study area.

INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: Seropositivity rates of WNV in Tripoli region of Libya were low. However, continu- ous monitoring of population is important to keep track of the disease prevalence, risk factors, reservoir hosts and vectors for better understaning of the disease epidemiology and designing appropriate control strategies.