Prevalence of antibodies to Francisella tularensis in forest workers from different regions of Poland

In the present study we evaluate the prevalence of antibodies to F. tularensis in 480 serum samples obtained from healthy forest workers from different regions of Poland. The investigations were performed using the tube agglutination test and ELISA. The cut-off limit of serum antibodies was set at mean antibody titre determined in the sera of 115 blood donors exceeded by three standard deviations. In none serum samples we detected antibodies to F. tularensis by tube agglutination test. Of the 480 tested sera IgA antibodies were detected by ELISA in 4.6%, antibodies IgG in 3.8% and antibodies IgM in 2.70% serum samples. The results of our study showed that antibodies to F. tularensis were slightly, but not statistically significant, more often diagnosed in healthy forest workers than healthy blood donors.