Dataset Information

Antibody responses in humans infected with newly emerging strains of West Nile Virus in Europe.

ABSTRACT: Infection with West Nile Virus (WNV) affects an increasing number of countries worldwide. Although most human infections result in no or mild flu-like symptoms, the elderly and those with a weakened immune system are at higher risk for developing severe neurological disease. Since its introduction into North America in 1999, WNV has spread across the continental United States and caused annual outbreaks with a total of 36,000 documented clinical cases and ?1,500 deaths. In recent years, outbreaks of neuroinvasive disease also have been reported in Europe. The WNV strains isolated during these outbreaks differ from those in North America, as sequencing has revealed that distinct phylogenetic lineages of WNV concurrently circulate in Europe, which has potential implications for the development of vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostic tests. Here, we studied the human antibody response to European WNV strains responsible for outbreaks in Italy and Greece in 2010, caused by lineage 1 and 2 strains, respectively. The WNV structural proteins were expressed as a series of overlapping fragments fused to a carrier-protein, and binding of IgG in sera from infected persons was analyzed. The results demonstrate that, although the humoral immune response to WNV in humans is heterogeneous, several dominant peptides are recognized.

SUBMITTER: Chabierski S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3680493 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Antibody responses in humans infected with newly emerging strains of West Nile Virus in Europe.

Chabierski Stefan S Makert Gustavo R GR Kerzhner Alexandra A Barzon Luisa L Fiebig Petra P Liebert Uwe G UG Papa Anna A Richner Justin M JM Niedrig Matthias M Diamond Michael S MS Palù Giorgio G Ulbert Sebastian S

PloS one 20130612 6

Infection with West Nile Virus (WNV) affects an increasing number of countries worldwide. Although most human infections result in no or mild flu-like symptoms, the elderly and those with a weakened immune system are at higher risk for developing severe neurological disease. Since its introduction into North America in 1999, WNV has spread across the continental United States and caused annual outbreaks with a total of 36,000 documented clinical cases and ∼1,500 deaths. In recent years, outbreak ...[more]

PMID: 23776680

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Project description:ImportanceWest Nile virus (WNV) is the leading cause of domestically acquired arboviral disease.ObjectiveTo develop real-time WNV forecasts of infected mosquitoes and human cases.Design, setting, and participantsReal-time forecasts of WNV in 4 geographically dispersed locations in the United States were generated using a WNV model-inference forecasting system previously validated with retrospective data. Analysis was performed to evaluate how observational reporting delays of mosquito WNV assay results and human medical records were associated with real-time forecast accuracy.ExposuresMosquitoes positive for WNV and human cases.Main outcomes and measuresDelays in reporting mosquito WNV assay results and human medical records and the association of these delays with real-time WNV forecast accuracy.ResultsSubstantial delays in data reporting exist for both infected mosquitoes and human WNV cases. For human cases, confirmed data (n = 37) lagged behind the onset of illness by a mean (SD) of 5.5 (2.3) weeks (range, 2-14 weeks). These human case reporting lags reduced mean forecast accuracy for the total number of human cases over the season in 110 simulated outbreaks for 2 forecasting systems by 26% and 14%, from 2 weeks before to 3 weeks after the predicted peak of infected mosquitoes. This period is the time span during which 47% of human cases are reported. Of 7064 mosquito pools, 500 (7%) tested positive; the reporting lag for these data associated with viral testing at a state laboratory was a mean (SD) of 6.6 (2.6) days (range, 4-11 days). This reporting lag was associated with decreased mean forecast accuracy for the 3 mosquito infection indicators, timing, magnitude, and season, by approximately 5% for both forecasting systems.Conclusions and relevanceDelays in reporting human WNV disease and infected mosquito information are associated with difficulties in outbreak surveillance and decreased real-time forecast accuracy. Infected mosquito lags were short enough that skillful forecasts could still be generated for mosquito infection indicators, but the human WNV case lags were too great to support accurate forecasting in real time. Forecasting WNV is potentially an important evidence-based decision support tool for public health officials and mosquito abatement districts; however, to operationalize real-time forecasting, more resources are needed to reduce human case reporting lags between illness onset and case confirmation.

Dataset Information

Antibody responses in humans infected with newly emerging strains of West Nile Virus in Europe.

Publications

Antibody responses in humans infected with newly emerging strains of West Nile Virus in Europe.

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