Main Article Content

Serological evidence of Rift Valley fever in domestic ruminants in Tunisia underlines the need for effective surveillance


Jihene Hellal
Selma Mejri
Sandra Lacote
Soufien Sghaier
Abderrazek Dkhil
Elena Arsevska
Didier Calavas
Viviane Hénaux
Philippe Marianneau
Salah Hammami

Abstract

Background: Rift Valley fever (RVF) is an infectious zoonotic disease infecting, mainly, domestic ruminants and causing significant economic and public health problems. RVF is a vector-borne disease transmitted by mosquitoes.
Aim: In this work, we tried to seek any RVF virus circulation in Tunisia.
Methods: Thus, we investigated 1,723 sera from different parts of Tunisia, collected in 2009 and 2013–2015 from sheep, goats, cattle, and dromedaries. All sera were assessed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay techniques.
Results: Eighty-seven sera were detected positive and 11 doubtful. All of them were investigated by the virusneutralization technique (VNT), which confirmed the positivity of three sera.
Conclusion: This is the first case of RVF seropositive confirmed by the VNT in Tunisian ruminants. Such a result was expected considering the climate, entomology, and geographic location of the country. Further investigations must enhance our findings to understand the RVF epidemiologic situation better and implement risk-based surveillance programs and effective control strategies.


Journal Identifiers


eISSN: 2218-6050
print ISSN: 2226-4485