Rift Valley fever virus in small ruminants in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Tshilenge, Georges M.; Mulumba, Mfumu L.K; Misinzo, Gerald; Noad, Rob; Dundon, William G.

Rift Valley fever virus in small ruminants in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

2019

Tshilenge, Georges M.(University of Kinshasa Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Department of Preclinical Medicine) | Mulumba, Mfumu L.K(University of Kinshasa Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Department of Clinical Medicine) | Misinzo, Gerald(Sokoine University of Agriculture Department of Microbiology and Parasitology) | Noad, Rob(Royal Veterinary College London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences) | Dundon, William G.(Joint Food and Agriculture Orginazation/ International Atomic Energy Agency Animal Production and Health Laboratory ,International Atomic Energy Agency Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications)

Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a zoonotic viral disease caused by the RVF phlebovirus (RVFV) that infects a variety of animal species including sheep and goats. Sera (n = 893) collected between 2013 and 2015 from randomly selected indigenous sheep and goats in seven provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) were tested for the presence of specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) and M (IgM) against RVFV, using two commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was also used to detect RVFV nucleic acid. There was significant variation in true seroprevalence of RVFV for both sheep and goats between the seven provinces investigated. Values ranged from 0.0 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.0-6.55) to 23.81 (95% CI 12.03-41.76) for goat and 0.0 (95% CI 0.0-7.56) to 37.11 (95% CI 15.48-65.94) for sheep, respectively. One serum (1.85%) out of 54 that tested positive for IgG was found to be IgM-positive. This same sample was also positive by RT-PCR indicating an active or recent infection. These findings report the presence of RVFV in small ruminants in the DRC for the first time and indicate variations in exposure to the virus in different parts of the country.

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