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Serological evidence of Toscana virus infection in Portuguese patients

2011; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 140; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s0950268811001403

1469-4409

Fátima Amaro, Teresa Elane Bezerra Luz, P. Parreira, Antonella Marchi, Maria Grazia Ciufolini, Maria João Alves,

Parvovirus B19 Infection Studies

Toscana virus (TOSV) is an emerging Phlebovirus of growing interest as a human pathogen in the Mediterranean Basin. In Portugal, however, little is known about the prevalence of TOSV infection. The aim of this work was to perform a seroprevalence study in patients with requests for laboratory diagnosis of vector-borne viruses. A total of 538 patients with and without neurological signs from 2004 to 2008 were studied by in-house indirect immunofluorescence assay and commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. A prevalence of 4.2% for IgG antibodies was found in the group of patients with neurological signs. Five (3%) of these had recent infections. In the group with no neurological signs, the IgG prevalence was 1.3%. Two samples, belonging to two patients, were also confirmed with plaque reduction neutralization tests with the TOSV ISS. Phl.3 Italian strain. This work showed that TOSV is present and causing disease from north to south in Portugal. The probable circulation of different phlebovirus serotypes in Portugal emphasizes the need for further studies.