Colleen Lau1, Maite Aubry2, Didier Musso2, Anita Teissier2, Sylvie Paulous3, Philippe Desprès4, Xavier de-Lamballerie5, Boris Pastorino5, Van-Mai Cao-Lormeau2, Philip Weinstein6. 1. Research School of Population Health, Australian National University, 62 Mills Rd, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, ACT 0200, Australia. Electronic address: colleen.lau@anu.edu.au. 2. Institut Louis Malardé, Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia. 3. Institut Pasteur, Paris, France. 4. La Reunion island University and UMR 134 PIMIT, 97491 Sainte-Clotilde, France. 5. UMR Emergence des Pathologies Virales, Aix Marseille University, Marseille, France. 6. The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: An epidemic of Ross River virus (RRV) occurred in the South Pacific in 1979-1980, but RRV has not been thought to occur endemically outside Australia and Papua New Guinea. A seroprevalence study was conducted to determine whether RRV has circulated in American Samoa since 1980. METHODS: RRV ELISA IgG was performed on 200 serum samples collected in American Samoa in 2010; seroneutralization tests were performed on 60 representative samples. RESULTS: Of 196 available ELISA IgG results, 145 (74%, 95% confidence interval 67-80%) were seropositive. Of the 60 samples subjected to seroneutralization testing, none of the 15 ELISA IgG-negative and 16 of the 45 ELISA IgG-positive samples neutralized RRV. ELISA IgG seroprevalence was higher in persons born before/during the 1979-1980 RRV outbreak (78.3%), but was also high (63.0%) in people born after the outbreak who had lived their entire lives in American Samoa. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides serological evidence that RRV circulation is likely to have occurred in American Samoa after 1980. Considering there are no marsupials in American Samoa, this finding implies that other species are capable of acting as reservoir hosts and indicates the potential for RRV to circulate in a much wider area than those currently recognized.
OBJECTIVES: An epidemic of Ross River virus (RRV) occurred in the South Pacific in 1979-1980, but RRV has not been thought to occur endemically outside Australia and Papua New Guinea. A seroprevalence study was conducted to determine whether RRV has circulated in American Samoa since 1980. METHODS:RRV ELISA IgG was performed on 200 serum samples collected in American Samoa in 2010; seroneutralization tests were performed on 60 representative samples. RESULTS: Of 196 available ELISA IgG results, 145 (74%, 95% confidence interval 67-80%) were seropositive. Of the 60 samples subjected to seroneutralization testing, none of the 15 ELISA IgG-negative and 16 of the 45 ELISA IgG-positive samples neutralized RRV. ELISA IgG seroprevalence was higher in persons born before/during the 1979-1980 RRV outbreak (78.3%), but was also high (63.0%) in people born after the outbreak who had lived their entire lives in American Samoa. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides serological evidence that RRV circulation is likely to have occurred in American Samoa after 1980. Considering there are no marsupials in American Samoa, this finding implies that other species are capable of acting as reservoir hosts and indicates the potential for RRV to circulate in a much wider area than those currently recognized.
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