The main reservoirs of LCMV is house mouse (Mus musculus) that excrete virus in urine and stool. Humans are usually infected by inhalation of contaminated aerosol. In many infected individuals LCMV infection is asymptomatic or presented as a flu-like febrile disease, however some people develop aseptic meningitis. LCMV infection during pregnancy can cause severe congenital malformations. The exact prevalence of LCMV infection is unknown. The risk group include persons who are in contact with rodents (forest workers, hunters). The aim of the study was to determine the seroprevalence of LCMV in professionally exposed and unexposed persons in Croatia. The study included 338 participants from continental Croatian counties: 122 exposed persons (forest workers, hunters, people with rodent exposure in house/yard), 115 persons from general population and 101 pregnant women. The LCMV IgG antibodies were detected in 6,8 % (23/338) participants: 9,8 % (12/122) of exposed persons, 6,1 % (7/115) of the general population and 3,9 % (4/101) of pregnant women. According to gender, seropositivity was 8,9 % (15/169) in males and 4,7 % (8/169) in females. Residents of suburban/rural areas were more often seropositive (9,2 %; 15/163) than those from urban areas (4,6 %; 8/175). The highest number of seropositive subjects were from the eastern Croatian counties (8,3 %; 6/72), Zagreb and central Croatia (7,8 %; 15/214), and the lowest from northwestern Croatia (3,8 %; 2/52). The results of logistic regression have shown that the presence of rodents in the house/yard and cleaning rodents nests are the most significant risk factors for LCMV infection (OR=2.962, 95%CI=1.019−8.607).
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