Seroprevalence of Flavivirus in horses in Chaco, Argentina. Circulation during 2013-2014

GRISELDA INÉS ORIA; LORENA IVANA SPINSANTI; VERÓNICA LAURA PIROTA; FLORENCIA MARTINEZ; ORNELA SOFÍA STECHINA; EDUARDO ETCHEPARE; MARTA SILVIA CONTIGIANI; MARINA STEIN

REVISTA BRASILEIRA DE MEDICINA VETERINARIA

SOC MEDICINA VETERINARIA ESTADO RIO DE JANEIRO

Lugar: SOC MEDICINA VETERINARIA ESTADO RIO DE JANEIRO; Año: 2018 vol. 40

0100-2430

Flaviviruses are responsible for several emerging mosquito-borne diseases in Argentina and in the Americas.Some of these diseases are zoonoses and were detected in recent years: West Nile virus (WNV) and SaintLouis encephalitis virus (SLEV) among them. WNV originated in Africa was detected for the first time inAmerica in 1999 and it was first isolated from diseased and dead horses in 2006 in Argentina. Neutralizingantibodies from wild birds, humans and horses have been also detected in later years. SLEV re-emerged as ahuman pathogen in Argentina with the first epidemic in 2005. During this outbreak viral strains were isolatedfrom Culex mosquitoes and several studies have detected neutralizing antibodies from birds, human andhorses, in the last ten years. The aim of this work is to provide information on the activity of the FlavivirusSLEV and WNV, identifying the infection in horses in three localities of the province of Chaco. From May2013 to May 2014, serological surveys from 68 asymptomatic horses were conducted. Antibodies againstSLEV (25%) and WNV (8.82%) were detected. This is the first report of WNV circulation in equines fromChaco province and circulation of both viruses during the study period was demonstrated.