Immunological Study on Rift Valley Fever Virus among Human Beings in Taiz Governorate (Yemen)

Abstract

Rift Valley Fever Virus (RVFV), which is transmitted to human beings by mosquitoes or direct contact with infected animals, is the etiologic agent of Rift Valley Fever (RVF). Using Enzyme Linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), this study was performed to prepare RVFV antigen, which is used in detecting anti-RVFV antibodies, from liver of infected lambs. The study also aimed to study immunological prevalence of anti-RVFV IgM and IgG antibodies among human beings, which were conducted in the Research Center of Taiz University and Central Health Laboratory, Taiz Governorate, Southwestern Yemen. RVFV antigen was successfully prepared at a titer dilution of 1: 3200 by Chessboard (CB) ELISA assay. However, out of the 234 samples, 154 samples were positive for ELISA assay, of which 49 samples (31.8%) were positive for anti-RVFV IgM and 105(68.2%) were positive for anti-RVFV IgG antibodies. The antigen was successfully produced, and successfully adhered to ELISA plates. Simple and inexpensive methods gave good results. The result can be used to develop and refine predictive database for RVF transmission based on environmental and remote sensing data.