West Nile Virus Infection in Xinjiang, China

Abstract

An outbreak of fever and meningitis/encephalitis occurred in Xinjiang, China, from August 5 to September 3, 2004. In preliminary diagnostic testing, several cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum samples showed positive immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibody to Japanese encephalitis virus. Here, the CSF and serum samples of 6 cases collected at that time were tested by immunofluorescence assay (IFA), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and plaque reduction neutralization assay (PRNT) for the existence of IgM antibody or neutralization antibody against West Nile virus (WNV) or other arboviruses. The results demonstrate the evidence of West Nile infection in Xinjiang, China.

Human Infection with West Nile Virus, Xinjiang, China, 2011

“…This study and other reports of fever and human encephalitis caused by WNV in Xinjiang, China, in 2004 ( 8 , 9 ) suggest that infections with WNV might be greatly underestimated. In addition, although JEV is present in this region and WNV has not been isolated in China, some patients might have been given misdiagnoses of infection with JEV because of cross-reactivity between these 2 viruses ( 10 ).…”

West Nile virus infectious replicon particles generated using a packaging-restricted cell line is a safe reporter system

“…reported the isolation of WNV from mosquitoes in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in western China 4 , and Li et al . provided evidence of WNV human infections confirmed by an IgM ELISA and the seroconversion of 90% plaque reduction neutralization tests of paired serum samples obtained from persons with febrile illness and viral encephalitis in 2004 5 . Although variety of birds and mammals are susceptible to WNV infection, typically only infected humans and horses exhibit serious symptoms, such as disorientation, coma, paralysis, and potentially death 6 .…”

West Nile virus infection in suspected febrile typhoid cases in Xinjiang, China

“…7, 8 Although WNV is an emerging pathogen in China and East Asia, 9 there have been no recent reports of WNV encephalitis cases or epidemics in the region. Determining the incidence of WNV infection has become an important public health concern.…”