Detection of Rift Valley Fever virus inter-epidemic activity in Kilimanjaro Region, North Eastern Tanzania

Rift Valley Fever virus (RVFV) is a zoonotic arbovirus of public health impact infecting livestock, wildlife, and humans mainly in Africa and other parts of the world. Despite its public health importance, mechanisms of RVFV maintenance during interepidemic periods (IEPS) remain unclear. We aimed to examine comparatively exposure to RVFV between humans and goats and RVFV infection between humans, goats and mosquitoes. A cross sectional study was performed in the Lower Moshi area of the Kilimanjaro region from March to June 2020. RVFV exposure was determined by detecting IgG/IgM to RVFV using a competitive enzyme linked immunosorbent assay whereas infection was determined by real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assay. Results show that the male gender was related to RVFV seropositivity (χ 2 = 5.351; p=0.030). Being 50 years and above was related to seropositivity (χ 2 =14.430; p=0.006) whereas bed net use, larger numbers of persons living in the same house (>7 persons) and RVFV seropositivity in goats were related to higher seropositivity to RVFV among humans χ 2 =6.003; p=0.021, χ 2 =23.213; p