Human cases of West Nile Virus infection in north-eastern Italy, 15 June to 15 November 2010

Euro Surveill. 2011 Aug 18;16(33):19949.

Abstract

In 2010, for the third consecutive year, human cases of West Nile virus (WNV) infection, including three confirmed cases of neuroinvasive disease and three confirmed cases of West Nile fever, were identified in north-eastern Italy. While in 2008 and 2009 all human cases of WNV disease were recorded in the south of the Veneto region, cases of WNV disease in 2010 additionally occurred in two relatively small northern areas of Veneto, located outside those with WNV circulation in the previous years. WNV IgG antibody prevalence in blood donors resident in Veneto was estimated as ranging from 3.2 per 1,000 in areas not affected by cases of WNV disease to 33.3 per 1,000 in a highly affected area of the Rovigo province. No further autochthonous human cases of WNV disease were notified in Italy in 2010. The recurrence of human cases of WNV infection for the third consecutive year strongly suggests WNV has become endemic in north-eastern Italy.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Viral / blood*
  • Antibodies, Viral / immunology
  • Blood Donors
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Immunoglobulin G / blood*
  • Immunoglobulin G / immunology
  • Immunoglobulin M / blood*
  • Immunoglobulin M / immunology
  • Italy / epidemiology
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Population Surveillance
  • Prevalence
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Seroepidemiologic Studies
  • West Nile Fever / diagnosis
  • West Nile Fever / epidemiology*
  • West Nile Fever / virology
  • West Nile virus / immunology
  • West Nile virus / isolation & purification*

Substances

  • Antibodies, Viral
  • Immunoglobulin G
  • Immunoglobulin M