Volume 23, Number 12—December 2017
Dispatch
West Nile Virus Lineage 2 in Horses and Other Animals with Neurologic Disease, South Africa, 2008–2015
Marietjie Venter
, Marthi Pretorius, James A. Fuller, Elizabeth Botha, Mpho Rakgotho, Voula Stivaktas, Camilla Weyer, Marco Romito, and June Williams
, Marthi Pretorius, James A. Fuller, Elizabeth Botha, Mpho Rakgotho, Voula Stivaktas, Camilla Weyer, Marco Romito, and June Williams
Table 1
WNV infection, co-infection, disease, and death in horses, by year, South Africa, 2008–2015
| Category | No. (%) horses |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | Total | |
| Total specimens | 71 | 76 | 150 | 164 | 89 | 138 | 193 | 188 | 1,069 |
| Confirmed WNV positive† | 9 (12.7) | 6 (7.9) | 18 (12.0) | 12 (7.3) | 3 (3.4) | 4 (2.9) | 23 (11.9) | 4 (2.1) | 79 (7.4) |
| WNV PCR positive† | 5 (7.0) | 3 (3.9) | 8 (5.3) | 2 (1.2) | 0 (0) | 1 (0.7) | 4 (2.1) | 1 (0.5) | 24 (2.2) |
| WNV IgM positive† | 5 (7.0) | 3 (3.9) | 12 (8.0) | 10 (6.1) | 3 (3.4) | 3 (2.2) | 20 (10.4) | 3 (1.6) | 59 (5.5) |
| Deaths‡ | 5 (55.6) | 3 (50.0) | 8 (44.4) | 3 (25.0) | 1 (33.3) | 1 (25.0) | 5 (21.7) | 1 (25.0) | 27 (34.2) |
| Any neurologic signs‡ | 8 (88.9) | 6 (100.0) | 16 (88.9) | 11 (91.7) | 2 (66.7) | 4 (100.0) | 21 (91.3) | 4 (100.0) | 72 (91.1) |
| Fever‡ | 2 (22.2) | 2 (33.3) | 3 (16.7) | 6 (50.0) | 1 (33.3) | 1 (25.0) | 10 (43.5) | 3 (75.0) | 28 (35.4) |
| Co-infections‡ and co-infecting viruses | 2 (22.2), 2 AHSV | 2 (33.3), 2 SINV | 1 (5.6), 1 SHUV | 2 (16.7), 2 MIDV | 2 (66.7), 1 AHSV, 1 SINV | 0 | 4 (17.4), 2 MIDV, 1 SHUV, 1 EEV | 1 (25.0), 1 SHUV | 14 (17.7), 3 AHSV, 3 SINV, 3 SHUV, 4 MIDV, 1 EEV |
*AHSV, African horse sickness virus; EEV, equine encephalitis virus; MIDV, Middleburg virus; SHUV, Shuni virus; SINV, Sindbis virus; WNV,
West Nile virus.
†Percentage of total number of specimens tested.
‡Percentage of total number of confirmed WNV-positive cases. Confirmed cases were those that tested positive by PCR plus those that tested positive by WNV IgM Capture ELISA (IDEXX Laboratories, Montpellier, France) followed by neutralization assay.
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Page updated: November 16, 2017
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