TY - JOUR
TI - West nile virus seroprevalence in the Greek population in 2013: A nationwide cross-sectional survey
AU - Hadjichristodoulou, C.
AU - Pournaras, S.
AU - Mavrouli, M.
AU - Marka, A.
AU - Tserkezou, P.
AU - Baka, A.
AU - Billinis, C.
AU - Katsioulis, A.
AU - Psaroulaki, A.
AU - Papa, A.
AU - Papadopoulos, N.
AU - Mamuris, Z.
AU - Tsakris, A.
AU - Kremastinou, J.
AU - Vakalis, N.
AU - Koliopoulos, G.
AU - Vontas, J.
AU - Dovas, C.I.
AU - Tontis, D.
AU - Tselentis, I.
AU - Tsiodras, S.
AU - Photis, Y.N.
AU - Papadopoulou, E.
JO - PLOS ONE
PY - 2015
VL - 10
TODO - 11
SP - null
PB - Public Library of Science
SN - null
TODO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0143803
TODO - immunoglobulin G antibody;  immunoglobulin M antibody;  immunoglobulin G;  virus antibody, adolescent;  adult;  age distribution;  aged;  Article;  child;  cross-sectional study;  disease severity;  enzyme linked immunosorbent assay;  female;  Flavivirus infection;  geographic distribution;  Greek (people);  human;  male;  neurologic disease;  plaque reduction neutralization test;  seroprevalence;  stratified sample;  virus neutralization;  West Nile neuroinvasive disease;  West Nile virus;  blood;  geography;  Greece;  health survey;  immunology;  infant;  middle aged;  newborn;  preschool child;  seroepidemiology;  very elderly;  virology;  West Nile fever;  West Nile virus;  young adult, Adolescent;  Adult;  Aged;  Aged, 80 and over;  Antibodies, Viral;  Child;  Child, Preschool;  Cross-Sectional Studies;  Geography;  Greece;  Humans;  Immunoglobulin G;  Infant;  Infant, Newborn;  Middle Aged;  Population Surveillance;  Seroepidemiologic Studies;  West Nile Fever;  West Nile virus;  Young Adult
TODO - Cases of West Nile Virus (WNV) disease were recorded for three consecutive years in Greece following the year 2010 outbreak. A cross-sectional serologic survey was conducted to estimate the WNV seroprevalence and assess the ratio of infection to neuroinvasive disease. A stratified left-over sampling methodology was used including age and residence strata. A total of 3,962 serum samples was collected and tested for WNV Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). All positive samples were further tested by Plaque Reduction Neutralization Test (PRNT) and WNV Immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies. WNV IgG antibodies were detected in 82 samples and 61 were also positive in PRNT representing a weighted seroprevalence of 2.1% (95% C.I.: 1.7-2.6) and 1.5% (95% C.I.: 1.2-2.0), respectively. Multivariable analysis showed that seroprevalence was associated with age and residence. The overall ratio of neuroinvasive disease to infected persons was estimated at 1:376 (95% C.I.: 1:421-1:338), while the elderly people had the highest ratio. This nationwide study provided valuable data regarding the epidemiology of WNV in Greece based on the fact that elderly people have higher risk of being both infected and having severe disease. © 2015 Hadjichristodoulou et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
ER -