SEROLOGIC EVIDENCE OF EXPOSURE OF WILD MAMMALS TO FLAVIVIRUSES IN THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN UNITED STATES
- 1 May 2005
- journal article
- Published by American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
- Vol. 72 (5) , 622-630
- https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.2005.72.622
Abstract
Serosurveys were conducted to obtain flavivirus and West Nile virus (WNV) seroprevalence data from mammals. Sera from 513 small- and medium-sized mammals collected during late summer and fall 2003 from Colorado, Louisiana, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania were screened for flavivirus-specific antibodies. Sera samples containing antibody to flaviviruses were screened for WNV-specific antibodies by epitope-blocking enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays and confirmed with plaque reduction neutralization tests. Prevalence of WNV antibodies among study sites ranged from 0% to 42.8% among the mammal communities sampled. High prevalence rates for WNV were noted among raccoons (100%, with a very small sample size, N = 2), Virginia opossums (50.0%), fox squirrels (49.1%), and eastern gray squirrels (48.3%). The high WNV antibody prevalence noted for tree squirrels, the peri-domestic tendencies of several of these species, and their ease of observation could make these species useful sentinels for monitoring WNV activity within urban communities.Keywords
This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- West Nile Virus in Livestock and WildlifePublished by Springer Nature ,2002