No abstract

The West Nile Virus (WNV), a mosquito-borne Flavivirus is a common infection identified in the Middle East, Europe, West Asia, Africa, Australia and the United States. The virus can cause severe illnesses and death in horses. The current study aimed to screen West Nile virus neutralizing antibodies in Arabian horse populations from breeding farms located in Central, Eastern Anatolia and Marmara by plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT). We sampled 165 Arabian racehorses, during March-December, 2010, in three different provinces (Eskişehir, Malatya, and Bursa) in Turkey. Screening of serum samples showed that 6.6% were positive for West Nile (WN) virus-neutralizing antibodies. The obtained data demonstrate WNV is circulating in mentioned regions among racehorses and the need to carry out a surveillance program includes WNV-focused screening tests in Turkey.