West Nile virus (WNV) infections were first detected in Germany in 2018, but information
about WNV seroprevalence in horses is limited. The study’s overall goal was to gather information
that would help veterinarians, horse owners, and veterinary-, and public health- authorities
understand the spread of WNV in Germany and direct protective measures. For this purpose, WNV
seroprevalence was determined in counties with and without previously registered WNV infections
in horses, and risk factors for seropositivity were estimated. The cohort consisted of privately
owned horses from nine counties in Eastern Germany. A total of 940 serum samples was tested by
competitive panflavivirus ELISA (cELISA), and reactive samples were further tested by WNV IgM
capture ELISA and confirmed by virus neutralization test (VNT). Information about potential risk
factors was recorded by questionnaire and analyzed by logistic regression. A total of 106 serum
samples showed antibodies against flaviviruses by cELISA, of which six tested positive for WNV
IgM. The VNT verified a WNV infection for 54 samples (50.9%), while 35 sera neutralized tick-borne
encephalitis virus (33.0%), and eight sera neutralized Usutu virus (7.5%). Hence, seroprevalence
for WNV infection was 5.8% on average and was significantly higher in counties with previously
registered infections (p = 0.005). The risk factor analysis showed breed type (pony), housing in
counties with previously registered infections, housing type (24 h turn-out), and presence of outdoor
shelter as the main significant risk factors for seropositivity. In conclusion, we estimated the extent of
WNV infection in the resident horse population in Eastern Germany and showed that seroprevalence
was higher in counties with previously registered equine WNV infections.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:86981 |
| Date | 31 August 2023 |
| Creators | Ganzenberg, Stefanie, Sieg, Michael Sieg, Ziegler, Ute, Pfeffer, Martin, Vahlenkamp, Thomas W., Hörügel, Uwe, Groschup, Martin H., Lohmann, Katharina L. |
| Publisher | MDPI |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 1191, 10.3390/v14061191 |
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