Investigation into High Barmah Forest Virus Disease Case Numbers Reported in the Northern Territory, Australia in 2012-2013.
Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis
; 16(2): 110-6, 2016 Feb.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-26789525
ABSTRACT
Between October 2012 and October 2013, unprecedented high numbers of Barmah Forest virus (BFV) disease cases were reported in the Northern Territory (NT). An investigation was launched by the NT Department of Health in cooperation with the Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries and the Department of Land Resource Management to investigate possible causes for this phenomenon. The investigation included virus isolations from mosquitoes collected in Darwin urban areas, BFV antibody testing in peri-urban small mammals and a human BFV disease case series investigation of recent cases. No BFV was isolated from the 4641 mosquitoes tested, none of the mammals tested positive for BFV antibodies, and the high BFV disease case numbers did not correlate with the relatively low mosquito vector numbers trapped in 2012-2013. It was estimated that up to 89% of the 79 human cases investigated did not have an acute arboviral illness and therefore had tested falsely positive. An Alere PanBio BFV immunoglobulin M enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay test kit is generally used to test for BFV, with the BFV disease case definition based on immunoglobulin M positives only. Other jurisdictions in Australia also reported high numbers of BFV disease cases, with the majority of the cases suspected to be false positives. Therefore, current testing methods need to be revised to reflect the true numbers of BFV disease cases occurring in Australia and to provide correct diagnoses for patients.
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Texto completo:
1
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Infecciones por Alphavirus
/
Alphavirus
Tipo de estudio:
Diagnostic_studies
Límite:
Animals
/
Humans
País como asunto:
Oceania
Idioma:
En
Año:
2016
Tipo del documento:
Article