Isolation of "exotic" Bhanja virus (Bunyaviridae) from ticks in the temperate zone.

One strain of Bhanja virus was isolated from Dermacentor marginatus male ticks collected from sheep in Slovak Karst, eastern Czechoslovakia (48 degrees 31'N, 20 degrees 28'E). In addition, three strains of Brezová virus (subtype of Tribec orbivirus, Reoviridae) were isolated from Ixodes ricinus ticks. The result represents the northernmost isolation of Bhanja virus and, moreover, its first recovery from D. marginatus in Europe. Cross-neutralization plaque reduction test revealed antigenic similarity of the Czechoslovak strain to the south-European isolates of Bhanja virus, but a more distant relationship to virus strains isolated in Africa and Asia.

Arbovirological survey in Silica plateau area, Roznava District, Czechoslovakia.

The serosurveys conducted in the Silica plateau area of the Slovak karst region revealed the presence of specific neutralizing antibody against tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus in 18% of local inhabitants (33 examined, mostly goats and sheep farmers), 54% of goats (26 examined), 18% of sheep (120 examined) and 13% of cattle (60 examined), against Lipovník (LIP) virus in 30% of inhabitants, 88% of goats, 55% of sheep and 45% of cattle, and against Bhanja (BHA) virus in 27% of inhabitants, 46% of goats, 29% of sheep and 23% of cattle. The results of hemagglutination-inhibition tests with TBE and BHA antigens were analogous. A detailed analysis of these serologic data points to a recent enhancement of the circulation of LIP and BHA viruses and to a very low TBE virus activity in this natural focus of arboviral infections. The immunological surveys of the 32 former "Roznava disease" patients, conducted 25 years after an extensive epidemic of a TBE virus infection that originated in Roznava in 1951, revealed the presence of neutralizing (and also hemagglutination-inhibiting) antibodies against TBE virus in as many as 78% of cases. Antibodies against LIP and BHA viruses were also detectable in the sera of 16% and 9%, respectively, of these individuals. Populations of the ectoparasites examined for the presence of arbovirus comprised 231 Ixodes ricinus, 806 Dermacentor marginatus and 204 Haemaphysalis punctata ticks and 117 specimens of the louse-flies Melophagus ovinus. Two strains of arbivirus that were antigenically related to Lipovník and Tribec viruses belonging to a group of Kemerovo viruses were isolated from male and female I. ricinus ticks collected from cattle.

Detection of human Bhanja virus-specific antibodies in Czechoslovakia.

Blood sera from 185 Czechoslovak citizens, residents of South-Moravia (Znojmo district: 107, Breclav district: 13) and East-Slovakia (Roznava district: 65) regions, were examined for the presence of neutralizing antibodies to Bhanja arbovirus, using PS and Vero cell lines, constant dose of virus and serial serum dilutions. Specific antibody titres greater than or equal to 1:10 were detected in the sera of 10 persons (i.e. 5.4% of all examined), of which 5 men and 4 women were from district of Roznava (13.8% of all examinees in this district) and 1 woman (forest worker) was from district of Znojmo (0.9% of all examinees in this district), but she could not be excluded to get infected while staying abroad (USSR) for a certain period prior to examination. Striking prevalence of seropositivity among the inhabitants of the Roznava district is apparently linked with two circumstances: this area is infested with Haemaphysalis punctata and Dermacentor marginatus ticks (Bhanja virus vector) and all the seroapositive subjects there in contact with goats and sheep. Detection of the human Bhanja virus-specific antibodies is the first one made on the territory of Czechoslovakia; linked with the previously reported seropositivity of goats and sheep in this area it indicates the presence of this arbovirus in the East-Slovakia region.

The use of mebendazole in the treatment of trichinellosis in man.

A description is given of an epidemic of trichinellosis in the districts of Kosice and Roznava, Slovakia. the confirmed cause of the epidemic was the consumption of wild hog meat which had escaped a veterinary meat inspection. The course of infection was apparent in 10 patients, inapparent in 16. Mebendazole in doses from 100-600 mg/day was administered for 6-10 days to 9 patients with a clinically apparent, and to one patient with an inapparent infection. Both the clinical course and results of a biopsy examination suggested that the doses had not been high enough for a positive effect of the treatment. Two years after the acute stage of trichinellosis, we repeated the treatment in one patient using a dose of 100 mg/day of mebendazole for a period of 14 days. An improvement of the clinical picture and results of a biopsy examination supported our assumption that an effective treatment of acute trichinellosis requires high doses of mebendazole.

First report of an infection with Rickettsia slovaca.

A description was given of an infection with Rickettsia slovaca following a tick bite. The clinical picture was that of an acute meningoencephalitis. Its etiology was confirmed serologically by an increase in complement-fixating antibodies, from negative values to diagnostically significant titers. There were febrile relapses and a prolonged persistence of neurasthenic disorders.

[Brill's Disease in Eastern Slovakia (author's transl)]. / Morbus Brill-Zinsser in der Ost-Slowakei.

A report is presented on the epidemiological, clinical and serological findings obtained in 37 patients in the southern part of Eastern Slovakia who were diagnosed as having Brill's disease. All patients presented with a recurrence of classical louse-borne typhus; in no case did the disease occur for the first time. It is recommended that all patients with a febrile illness of uncertain aetiology be subjected to a routine serological examination for louse-borne typhus in epidemic areas. Careful supervision is necessary since if such late recurrences are not detected they can result in a renewed spread of the disease in an environment where lice prevail. This was demonstrated in one of the patients in this study.