Serological
Investigation of West Nile
Virus Infection in Domestic Horses and Donkeys in Turkey
Kale Mehmet1,*, Gur Sibel2, Yapıcı Orhan3,Mamak Nuri4, Yavru Sibel3, Hasırcıoglu
Sibel1, Bulut Oya3 and Gurcay Metin5
1Department
of Virology, Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Turkey; 2Department
of Virology, Afyon Kocatepe University, Turkey; 3Department
of Virology, Selçuk University, Turkey; 4Department of
Internal Medicine, Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Turkey; 5Department
of Virology, Elazıg Veterinary Control Institute, Turkey *Corresponding author: drmkalex@yahoo.com
Abstract
West Nile Virus (WNV) antibody presence was
studied in domestic horse (Equus caballus)
and donkeys (Equus asinus) of various
age and types owned by public in different regions of Turkey. In the study,
serum samples were collected from 650 domestic horses and 234 domestic donkeys
seeming to be in good health. In order to detect WNV antibody presence in these
samples, commercial c-ELISA (Competitive Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay) kit
(ID Screen® West Nile Competition-IgG-ELISA
kit, Montpellier, France) was used. At the end of the test, WNV seropositivity
was detected at a level of 4.15% (27/650) for horse serum samples and 1.28%
(3/234) for donkey serum samples. Seropositivity was found for horses in Aegean
and Central Anatolia and for donkeys in Eastern Anatolia regions. WNV
seropositivity was detected only for Native Anatolia type horse races. It was
concluded that WNV presence continued its
existence among equidae in our country.