Evaluation of a West Nile virus surveillance and earlywarning system in Greece, based on domestic pigeons
2014
Chaintoutis, Serafeim C. | Dovas, Chrysostomos | Papanastassopoulou, Maria | Gewehr, Sandra | Danis, Kostas | Beck, Cécile | Lecollinet, Sylvie | Vasilis, Antalisb | Kalaitzopoulou, Stella | Panagiotopoulos, Takis | Mourelatos, Spiros | Zientara, Stephan | Papadopoulos, Orestis
In the summer of 2010 an epidemic of West Nile virus (WNV) occurred in Central Macedo-nia, Greece, with 197 human neuroinvasive disease (WNND) cases. In the following yearsthe virus spread to new areas, with a total of 76 WNND cases in 2011, and 109 WNNDcases in 2012 (14 and 12 WNND cases, respectively, in Central Macedonia). We establisheda surveillance system based on serological testing of domestic pigeons, using cELISA con-firmed by serum neutralization test. In Central Macedonia, pigeon seroprevalence was 54%(95% CI: 49â59%) and 31% (95% CI: 24â37%) at the end of the 2010 and 2011 epidemicseasons, respectively. One serum was positive for neutralizing antibodies directed againstUsutu virus. Pigeon WNV seroprevalence and incidence rates of human WNND after the2010 epidemic were positively correlated ( = 0.94, at the regional unit level), while in2011 the correlation ( = 0.56) was not statistically significant, possibly due to small num-ber of human WNND cases recorded. To evaluate the efficacy of the system at alerting uponWNV enzootic circulation before the onset of human cases, we tested 270 pigeons in 2011and 240 pigeons in 2012. In Central Macedonia, the first seroconversions in pigeons wererecorded 44 and 47 days, respectively, before the first human WNND cases. Pigeon surveil-lance was used successfully for identification of areas with WNV enzootic transmissionand for early warning. Timely diffusion of information to health authorities facilitated theimplementation of preparedness plans to protect public health.
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