An elderly patient in Belgium who became critically ill after returning from Hungary was tested for pathogens using routine diagnostic tests. All results were negative. However, using next-generation sequencing on a cultured respiratory sample, laboratorians detected a complete West Nile virus genome, similar to strains isolated in southeastern Europe.
Keywords: Belgium; Hungary; West Nile virus; complete genome; meningitis/encephalitis; next-generation sequencing; respiratory culture; respiratory infections; vector-borne infections; viruses.