Surveillance and Early Warning of West Nile Virus Lineage 2 Using Backyard Chickens and Correlation to Human Neuroinvasive Cases

S C Chaintoutis; C I Dovas; K Danis; S Gewehr; S Mourelatos; C Hadjichristodoulou; M Papanastassopoulou

doi:10.1111/zph.12152

Surveillance and Early Warning of West Nile Virus Lineage 2 Using Backyard Chickens and Correlation to Human Neuroinvasive Cases

Zoonoses Public Health. 2015 Aug;62(5):344-55. doi: 10.1111/zph.12152. Epub 2014 Aug 22.

Authors

S C Chaintoutis¹, C I Dovas¹, K Danis², S Gewehr³, S Mourelatos³, C Hadjichristodoulou⁴, M Papanastassopoulou¹

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
² Department of Surveillance and Intervention, Hellenic Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Athens, Greece.
³ Ecodevelopment S.A. - Environmental Applications, Thessaloniki, Greece.
⁴ Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece.

PMID: 25155113
DOI: 10.1111/zph.12152

Abstract

In 2010, a West Nile virus (WNV) epidemic was reported in Central Macedonia, Northern Greece, with 197 neuroinvasive disease (WNND) cases in humans. The following 3 years, WNV spreads to new areas of Greece and human cases reoccurred during the transmission periods. After the initial outbreak, a WNV surveillance system using juvenile backyard chickens was established in Central Macedonia (after the 2011 outbreak) and Eastern Macedonia-Thrace (after the 2012 outbreak). Sera were screened for the presence of antibodies against WNV using cELISA and serum neutralization test, to monitor the spread of WNV and to assess the correlation between the WNV point seroprevalence in chickens and the incidence rates of human WNND cases in the aforementioned areas. WNV seroprevalence in chickens was 10.4% (95% CI: 7-15) in Central Macedonia (2011) and 18.1% (95% CI: 14-23) in Eastern Macedonia-Thrace (2012). Seroprevalence in chickens and incidence rates of human WNND cases in Eastern Macedonia-Thrace were strongly positively correlated (ρ = 0.98, P = 0.005) at the regional unit level, with the incidence of WNND in humans increasing with increasing WNV point seroprevalence in chickens. In Central Macedonia, the correlation was weaker (ρ = 0.68, P = 0.20), apparently due to small number of reported human WNND cases. Another study was also conducted using juvenile backyard chickens in Central Macedonia, aiming to detect early WNV enzootic circulation, before the onset of human cases during 2011 and 2013. The first seroconverted chickens were detected about 1.5 months before the laboratory diagnosis of any human WNND cases in Central Macedonia, for both years. WNV surveillance, using juvenile backyard chickens, was reliable for the identification of areas with WNV enzootic and silent transmission, and for early warning. Timely diffusion of information to public health authorities facilitated the successful implementation of preparedness plans to protect public health.

Keywords: Greece; West Nile virus; backyard chickens; early warning; humans; surveillance.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Chickens
Greece / epidemiology
Humans
Population Surveillance
Poultry Diseases / virology*
Seroepidemiologic Studies
West Nile Fever / epidemiology
West Nile Fever / veterinary*
West Nile Fever / virology
West Nile virus / classification*
Zoonoses