No evidence of Rift Valley fever antibodies in veterinarians and sheep in Northern Palestine

Vet World Vol.15 August-2022 Article-11

Research Article

Veterinary World, 15(8): 1990-1995

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2022.1990-1995

Ibrahim Alzuheir¹, Belal Abu Helal¹, Mohammad Abu Helal², Adnan Fayyad¹, and Nasr Jalboush¹

1. Department of Veterinary Medicine, An-Najah National University, P.O. Box 7 Nablus, Palestine.
2. Department of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Graduate Studies, An-Najah National University, P.O. Box 7 Nablus, Palestine.

Background and Aim: Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a vector-borne virus that causes RVF in humans and ruminants. The clinical symptoms in humans and animals are non-specific and often misdiagnosed, but abortions in ruminants and high mortality in young animals are characteristic. Since the initial outbreak in the Rift Valley area in Kenya, the disease has spread to most African countries and the Middle East. The presence and epidemiological status of RVFV in humans and animals in Palestine are unknown. This study aimed to investigate the presence and risk factors for RVF seroprevalence in veterinarians, as occupational hazard professionals, and sheep, as highly susceptible animals, in Northern Palestine.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. Data and blood samples of 280 Assaf sheep and 100 veterinarians in close occupational contact with sheep were collected between August and September 2020 using an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Results: No evidence of RVF antibodies was found in any human or animal sample.

Conclusion: Our results suggest that RVFV has not circulated in livestock in Northern Palestine, yet. Surveillance and response capabilities and cooperation with the nearby endemic regions are recommended. The distribution of competent vectors in Palestine, associated with global climate change and the role of wild animals, might be a possible route for RVF spreading to Palestine from neighboring countries. Keywords: Palestine, Rift Valley fever, seroprevalence, sheep, veterinarian.

Keywords: Palestine, Rift Valley fever, seroprevalence, sheep, veterinarian.

How to cite this article: Alzuheir I, Helal BA, Helal MA, Fayyad A, and Jalboush N (2022) No evidence of Rift Valley fever antibodies in veterinarians and sheep in Northern Palestine, Veterinary World, 15(8): 1990–1995.

Received: 13-04-2022 Accepted: 05-07-2022 Published online: 20-08-2022

Corresponding author: Ibrahim Alzuheir E-mail: ibrahimzuhair@najah.edu

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2022.1990-1995

Copyright: Alzuheir, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.