Tick-borne encephalitis virus and West-Nile fever virus as causes of serous meningitis of unknown origin in Kazakhstan
Shin A. Tukhanova N. Ndenkeh J., Jr. Shapiyeva Z. Yegemberdiyeva R. Yeraliyeva L. Nurmakhanov T. Froeschl G. Hoelscher M. Musralina L. Toktasyn Y. Gulnara Z. Sansyzbayev Y. Aigul S. Abdiyeva K. Turebekov N. Wagner E. Peintner L. Essbauer S.
August 2022John Wiley and Sons Inc
Zoonoses and Public Health
2022#69Issue 5514 - 525 pp.
Flaviviruses are a family of viruses that cause many diseases in humans. Their similarity in the antigenic structure causes a cross-reaction, which complicates the precise diagnostic of disease causing agents. Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), a member of the flavivirus family, is the cause of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE). Worldwide the awareness of this disease is raising, however, in many countries such as the Republic of Kazakhstan (KZ) there is a lack of serological investigation of flaviviruses in humans. In our study, we focused on two TBE endemic regions of KZ (East Kazakhstan Oblast (EKO) and Almaty (AO)) and a region where TBE cases were registered only since 2010 (Akmola Oblast (AkO)). In KZ, up to 400 cases of serous meningitis of unknown origin were registered annually in the period from 2017 to 2019. Our goals were to calculate the prevalence of antibodies against TBEV in patients with suspected meningitis. We collected 179 sera and 130 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from patients and included a questionnaire with focus on socio-demographical factors and observed tick bites. The human samples were tested with TBEV and West-Nile fever virus (WNFV) IgM and IgG ELISA, by immunofluorescence assay using a flavivirus biochip, and TBEV-specific real-time RT-PCR. We found TBEV and WNFV antibodies in 31 samples by serological and molecular techniques. Seven serum samples out of 31 showed TBEV-specific antibodies, and three serum pairs had WNFV antibodies. Correlating the serological results with the information gained from the questionnaires it becomes apparent that the number of tick bites is a significant factor for a TBEV infection. This result has an impact on diagnostic in KZ and physicians should be aware that both flaviviruses play a role for serous meningitis of unknown origin in KZ.
encephalitis , Republic of Kazakhstan , serology , serous meningitis of unknown origin , tick-borne encephalitis virus , West-Nile fever virus
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Center for International Health, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany
National Scientific Center for Extremeley Dangerous Infections, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Scientific Practical Center of Sanitary Epidemiological Expertise and Monitoring, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Kazakh National Medical University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
National Scientific-Center for Phthisiopulmonology, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Division of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany
Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Institute of Genetics and Physiology, Almaty, Kazakhstan
PCR-CD Department, Children’s City Clinical Infectious Hospital, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Almaty branch National Center for Biotechnology, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Section of Experimental Virology, Institute of Medical Microbiology, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany
Department of Virology and Intracellular Agents, Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology, German Centre for Infection Research, Munich Partner Site, Munich, Germany
Center for International Health
National Scientific Center for Extremeley Dangerous Infections
Scientific Practical Center of Sanitary Epidemiological Expertise and Monitoring
Kazakh National Medical University
National Scientific-Center for Phthisiopulmonology
Division of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine
Al-Farabi Kazakh National University
Institute of Genetics and Physiology
PCR-CD Department
Almaty branch National Center for Biotechnology
Section of Experimental Virology
Department of Virology and Intracellular Agents
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