PREVALENCE OF ANTI-RIFT-VALLEY-FEVER IGM ANTIBODY IN ABATTOIR WORKERSIN THE NILE DELTA DURING THE 1993 OUTBREAK IN EGYPT

In the early summer of 1993, an outbreak of Rift Valley fever (RVF) wa s reported among both humans and animals in Aswan Governorate, Upper E gypt. To determine whether RVF infection had spread to the Nile delta region of the country, we carried out a cross-sectional survey of 1181 occupationally exposed abattoir workers (97% male; age 10-72 years) i n 15 governorates of Egypt in November 1993. The overall prevalence of anti-RVF virus IgM antibody was 2% (range: 0% (7 governorates) to 10% ). The highest prevalences were in Ismailia (10%) and Sharqiya (8%) Go vernorates. None of the seropositive subjects reported having experien ced an episode of fever in the 2 months prior to the study The prevale nce of antibody was significantly higher (P < 0.05) among workers empl oyed in high-risk jobs such as cutting animals' throats (relative risk (RR = 2.24)) and handling animal parts (RR = 2.37). The findings sugg est that abattoir workers represent a useful sentinel population for s urveillance of RVF.