The challenge of West Nile virus in Europe: knowledge gaps and research priorities

Abstract

West Nile virus (WNV) is continuously spreading across Europe, and other continents, i.e. North and South America and many other regions of the world. Despite the overall sporadic nature of outbreaks with cases of West Nile neuroinvasive disease (WNND) in Europe, the spillover events have increased and the virus has been introduced into new areas. The high genetic diversity of the virus, with remarkable phenotypic variation, and its endemic circulation in several countries, require an intensification of the integrated and multidisciplinary research efforts built under the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union (FP7). It is important to better clarify several aspects of WNV circulation in Europe, including its ecology, genomic diversity, pathogenicity, transmissibility, diagnosis and control options, under different environmental and socio-economic scenarios. Identifying WNV endemic as well as infection-free areas is becoming a need for the development of human vaccines and therapeutics and the application of blood and organs safety regulations. This review, produced as a joint initiative among European experts and based on analysis of 118 scientific papers published between 2004 and 2014, provides the state of knowledge on WNV and highlights the existing knowledge and research gaps that need to be addressed with high priority in Europe and neighbouring countries

Latitudinal Diversity of Culex pipiens Biotypes and Hybrids in Farm, Peri-Urban, and Wetland Habitats in Europe

“…pipiens populations that are dominated by biotype pipiens play an important role in the natural transmission cycle of WNV in birds, whereas the risk of WNV outbreaks among humans is increased in populations with high levels of hybridization [8]. Up to now, outbreaks of WNV among humans have only occurred in southern and central Europe, including Italy [34]. The overall proportion of hybrids is higher in The Netherlands than Italy, which is not consistent with the more equal proportion of biotypes in Italy than in The Netherlands.…”

Estimating the economic impact of a possible equine and human epidemic of West Nile virus infection in Belgium

“…Also, the risk of mosquitoes developing resistance against insecticides should not be neglected. Furthermore, a recent study identified knowledge gaps concerning vector control in Europe and urged that the most appropriate and environmental friendly control strategies should be identified, given the reduced availability of products for mosquito control in recent years [54]. …”

West Nile Virus in Europe and Safety of Blood Transfusion

“…The intensified surveillance for WNV infections in humans and animals resulted in the detection and isolation of many pathogenic isolates of WNV, classified in at least seven different lineages [2,3]. However, two major WNV lineages, lineage 1 (L1) and lineage 2 (L2), are responsible for the outbreaks observed in the past years.…”