Incidence and seroprevalence of tularaemia in Finland, 1995 to 2013: regional epidemics with cyclic pattern

H Rossow; J Ollgren; J Hytönen; H Rissanen; O Huitu; H Henttonen; M Kuusi; O Vapalahti

doi:10.2807/1560-7917.ES2015.20.33.21209

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Incidence and seroprevalence of tularaemia in Finland, 1995 to 2013: regional epidemics with cyclic pattern
H Rossow^1,2,3 , J Ollgren² , J Hytönen⁴ , H Rissanen⁵ , O Huitu⁶ , H Henttonen⁷ , M Kuusi² , O Vapalahti^1,3
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Affiliations: ¹ Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland ² Infectious Disease Control Unit, Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland ³ Virology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland ⁴ Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland ⁵ Health Monitoring Unit, Department of Health, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland ⁶ Suonenjoki Unit, Natural Resources Institute, Suonenjoki, Finland ⁷ Vantaa Unit, Natural Resources Institute, Vantaa, Finland

Correspondence:
H Rossow
heidi.rossow helsinki.fi
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Citation style for this article: Rossow H, Ollgren J, Hytönen J, Rissanen H, Huitu O, Henttonen H, Kuusi M, Vapalahti O. Incidence and seroprevalence of tularaemia in Finland, 1995 to 2013: regional epidemics with cyclic pattern. Euro Surveill. 2015;20(33):pii=21209. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES2015.20.33.21209 Received: 19 Oct 2014

Abstract

We studied the incidence of reported tularaemia by year and region and the prevalence of antibodies against Francisella tularensis in the adult general population in Finland. Moreover, we assessed the correlation between vole population cycles and human tularaemia outbreaks. The seroprevalence study made use of serum samples from a nationwide population-based health survey (Health 2000). The samples of 1,045 randomly selected persons, representative for the Finnish population in each region, were screened with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the presence of IgG antibodies against F. tularensis, and positive results were further confirmed by immunoblotting. A serological response to F. tularensis was found in 2% (95% confidence interval: 1.1-3.5) of the population. Incidence and seroprevalence were highest in the same areas, and vole population peaks clearly preceded tularaemia outbreaks one year later. .