Lf. Mccaig et al., EPIDEMIOLOGIC ASPECTS OF A ST-LOUIS ENCEPHALITIS OUTBREAK IN FORT-WALTON BEACH, FLORIDA IN 1980, The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, 50(3), 1994, pp. 387-391
Citations number
9
Categorie Soggetti
Public, Environmental & Occupation Heath","Tropical Medicine
From July 10 through August 4, 1980, five cases of St. Louis encephali
tis (SLE) occurred in and near Fort Walton Beach on the Gulf Coast of
northwest Florida. These were the first cases of SLE ever reported fro
m the Florida panhandle. To determine the extent of SLE infection in t
he community, sera (n = 968) were collected from patients at the local
hospital and county public health unit and tested for SLE virus antib
ody. The SLE attack rate was highest in a centrally located impoverish
ed census tract. There was a trend toward decreasing seroprevalence wi
th distance from the central area of the city. Overall, seroprevalence
was higher in males (prevalence ratio = 2.7) and in all areas, seropr
evalence increased with age. The serosurvey results suggest that SLE h
as been endemic in the Fort Walton Beach area.