Application of the social determinants of health to assess dengue control in an urban area of Colombia

Abstract

WNV is endemic in Romania on large territories. The human infections appear continuously as sporadic cases and occasionally severe outbreaks and represent an important public health problem in Romania. The investigations for the evaluation of the emergence risk with a view to apply preventive and control measures were carried out.Methods & Materials: The values of the seroprevalence of specific IgG antibodies against WNV in its vertebrate hosts (domestic and wild birds and horses) by specific ELISA techniques were evaluated. The virus detection (by RAMP test and/or RT-PCR), virus isolation (by inoculation on suckling mice) and identification (by a multi-level protocol based on RT-PCR, nested and sequencing) from mosquitoes were performed. The confirmed human cases of neurological infections were registered.Results: The high seroprevalence of specific IgG antibodies against WNV detected in its vertebrate hosts showed the enzootic circulation of the virus on very large territories in Romania. The virus was detected in females of several main vector species in Romania, including Culex pipiens, during the annual transmission periods, and in C. pipiens males (showing the vertical transmission of the virus) and over-wintering females of this species (confirmation of the WNV passing over winter in Romania). The virus was detected also in Coquillettidia richiardii, Ochlerotatus caspius and Anopheles maculipennis s.l. The virus was isolated several times from Culex pipiens collected in Bucharest and 1 Decembrie rural area. Human WNV cases were confirmed every year after epidemics in 1996.Conclusion: The enzootic circulation of West Nile virus is registered in Romania in very large territories where Culex pipiens and other vector species are present and /or dominant. All these data together with the permanent emergence of human cases confirm the endemic presence of this virus in Romania.http://dx.