Retrospective screening of solid organ donors in Italy, 2009, reveals unpredicted circulation of West Nile virus

M R Capobianchi; V Sambri; C Castilletti; A M Pierro; G Rossini; P Gaibani; F Cavrini; M Selleri; S Meschi; D Lapa; A Di Caro; P Grossi; C De Cillia; S Venettoni; M P Landini; G Ippolito; A Nanni Costa; Collective on behalf of the Italian Transplant Network

doi:10.2807/ese.15.34.19648-en

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Retrospective screening of solid organ donors in Italy, 2009, reveals unpredicted circulation of West Nile virus
M R Capobianchi^1,2 , V Sambri^2,3 , C Castilletti¹ , A M Pierro³ , G Rossini³ , P Gaibani³ , F Cavrini³ , M Selleri¹ , S Meschi¹ , D Lapa¹ , A Di Caro¹ , P Grossi⁴ , C De Cillia⁵ , S Venettoni⁵ , M P Landini³ , G Ippolito¹ , A Nanni Costa⁵ , Collective on behalf of the Italian Transplant Network⁶
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Affiliations: ¹ National Institute for Infectious Diseases (INMI) “L. Spallanzani”, Rome, Italy ² These authors contributed equally to the work and share first authorship ³ Regional Reference Centre for Microbiological Emergencies (CRREM), Unit of Clinical Microbiology, St Orsola University Hospital, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy ⁴ Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy ⁵ National Transplant Centre, Rome, Italy ⁶ Members are listed at the end of the article

Correspondence:
M Capobianchi
maria.capobianchi inmi.it
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Citation style for this article: Capobianchi M R, Sambri V, Castilletti C, Pierro A M, Rossini G, Gaibani P, Cavrini F, Selleri M, Meschi S, Lapa D, Di Caro A, Grossi P, De Cillia C, Venettoni S, Landini M P, Ippolito G, Nanni Costa A, on behalf of the Italian Transplant Network Collective. Retrospective screening of solid organ donors in Italy, 2009, reveals unpredicted circulation of West Nile virus. Euro Surveill. 2010;15(34):pii=19648. https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.15.34.19648-en Received: 18 Aug 2010

Abstract

Since the occurrence of West Nile virus (WNV) infection in humans in 2008 in Italy, concerns have been raised about the potential risks associated with solid organ transplantation (SOT). A nationwide retrospective survey showed that 1.2% of SOT donors in 2009 were WNV-seropositive and demonstrated that human WNV infection is distributed throughout several Italian regions. Transmission of WNV or other arboviruses through SOT is a possibility and risk assessment should be carried out before SOT to avoid infection through transplantation.