A survey on Antibody against Akabane Virus in Human Beings and Swine in Chiba Prefecture, Japan

Abstract

Human and porcine serum samples were collected in Chiba Prefecture where outbreaks of abortion and the congenital arthrogryposis-hydranencephaly (AH) syndrome had been observed among cattle in 1972-1973.
A total of 1, 348 human serum samples were collected over a period from June, 1977 to April, 1979, and a total of 1, 134 pocine serum samples (654 fattening pigs 4-5 months old and 480 sows) over a period from September, 1978 to February, 1979. A relatively low incidence of inhibition against Akabane Virus hemagglutinin (HI) was obtained with human (1.3%) and porcine (1.4%) serum samples. The HI was observed with human sera collected in the countryside of the eastern part of Chiba Prefecture, where the AH syndrome was prevalent. The positive rate of HI was 0.8% in the fattening pigs and 2.3% in the sows.