Skip Navigation


Rheumatology Advance Access originally published online on March 31, 2003
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
42/5/632    most recent
keg143v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (3)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Laine, M.
Right arrow Articles by Toivanen, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Laine, M.
Right arrow Articles by Toivanen, A.
Related Collections
Right arrow Spondylarthropathies
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Rheumatology 2003; 42: 632-636
© 2003 British Society for Rheumatology

The prevalence of antibodies against Sindbis-related (Pogosta) virus in different parts of Finland

M. Laine1,2, R. Vainionpää3, J. Oksi1,2, R. Luukkainen4 and A. Toivanen1

Departments of
1 Medicine,
2 Medical Microbiology
3 Virology,Turku University, Turku and
4 Satalinna Hospital, Harjavalta, Finland

Objective. To study the occurrence of Sindbis-related (Pogosta) disease in Finland by serological means.

Methods. A total of 2250 serum samples from five different areas were included in the study. Four hundred samples were collected from healthy blood donors and 1850 samples from patients who were suspected to have some viral infection. Antibodies of IgG and IgM classes against Pogosta virus were measured.

Results. Eleven per cent of 2250 samples were positive for IgG and 0.6% were positive for IgM class antibodies against Pogosta virus. The antibody prevalence in Finland was almost equally distributed, being highest in western Finland (17%) and lowest in southern and northern Finland (9%). Of all samples with IgG class antibodies, 25% were taken from children under 10 yr of age.

Conclusions. The prevalence of antibodies against Pogosta virus was much higher than we expected. Additionally, they were detected from all locations studied and not only in eastern Finland, which has been thought to be the main endemic area for this disease. Pogosta disease has been considered to affect mainly middle-aged persons, but our results indicate a high prevalence also among children.

KEY WORDS: Pogosta virus, Sindbis-related virus, Finland.

Correspondence to: A. Toivanen, Department of Medicine, Turku University, Kiinamyllynkatu 4–8, FIN-20520 Turku, Finland. E-mail: auli.toivanen{at}utu.fi


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.