Rift Valley Fever in Goats, Cameroon

摘要

To the Editor: Rift Valley fever(RVF) is caused by an RNA virus(Phlebovirus, Bunyaviridae), which iscarried by mosquito vectors (1). Innature, it is only known in Africa andthe Arabian Peninsula. In the centralAfrican region, RVF has been report-ed in humans and livestock in thesavanna of northern Cameroon andChad (2,3) and from forests in theCentral African Republic (4). Humanepidemics are sometimes preceded byan increase in RVF virus (RVFV)prevalence in domestic ruminants,which manifests as increased abor-tions and high neonatal deaths (3).Human epidemics can have serioushealth implications, as demonstratedby the most recent outbreaks in Kenyain 1997 and 1998 (5) and SaudiArabia in 2001 (6).