TY - JOUR AU - Batieha, Anwar AU - Saliba, Elias K. AU - Graham, Ross AU - Mohareb, Emad AU - Hijazi, Younis AU - Wijeyaratne, Pandu T1 - Seroprevalence of West Nile, Rift Valley, and Sandfly Arboviruses in Hashimiah, Jordan T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2000 VL - 6 IS - 4 SP - 358 SN - 1080-6059 AB - We conducted a serosurvey among patients of a health center in Hashimiah, a Jordanian town of 30,000 inhabitants located near a wastewater treatment plant and its effluent channel. Serum samples from 261 patients 5 years of age were assessed for immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM antibodies against West Nile, sandfly Sicilian, sandfly Naples, and Rift Valley viruses; the seroprevalence of IgG antibodies was 8%, 47%, 30%, and 0%, respectively. Female participants were more likely to have been infected than male. Persons living within 2 km of the treatment plant were more likely to have been infected with West Nile (p=0.016) and sandfly Sicilian (p=0.010) viruses. Raising domestic animals within the house was a risk factor for sandfly Sicilian (p=0.003) but not for sandfly Naples virus (p=0.148). All serum samples were negative for IgM antibodies against the tested viruses. Our study is the first documentation of West Nile and sandfly viruses in Jordan and calls attention to the possible health hazards of living close to wastewater treatment plants and their effluent channels. KW - West Nile KW - Rift valley KW - Sandfly Sicilian KW - Arbovirus KW - Seroprevalence KW - Hashimiah KW - Sandfly Naples KW - Jordan DO - 10.3201/eid0604.000405 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/6/4/00-0405_article ER - End of Reference