Seroprevalence of three emerging arboviral infections in Kuwaiti nationals

Abstract

Diseases caused by dengue, sandfly fever and hanta viruses pose a major health risk in many countries. We determined the threat of these arboviral infections through a serologic using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based tests. Hantavirus-specific antibodies were also detected using immunofluorescence. Of 499 samples tested for dengue virus IgG antibodies l4% were as positive for dengue positive by all the ELISA tests. Among the 42 showing strong IgG reactivity, only 1 was positive for dengue virus IgM antibodies. All samples tested for IgG antibodies to sandfly fever virus were negative. Hantavirus antibodies were detected in 11% of the 46 samples from high-risk individuals. The low prevalences suggest that at present these infections are not a serious problem in Kuwait.