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

L Barzon; M Pacenti; R Cusinato; M Cattai; E Franchin; S Pagni; T Martello; S Bressan; L Squarzon; A M Cattelan; G Pellizzer; P Scotton; A Beltrame; F Gobbi; Z Bisoffi; F Russo; G Palù

doi:10.2807/ese.16.33.19949-en

Surveillance and outbreak reports Open Access

Like 0

Download

Human cases of West Nile Virus Infection in north-eastern Italy, 15 June to 15 November 2010
L Barzon^1,2 , M Pacenti² , R Cusinato² , M Cattai² , E Franchin^1,2 , S Pagni^1,2 , T Martello² , S Bressan² , L Squarzon¹ , A M Cattelan³ , G Pellizzer⁴ , P Scotton⁵ , A Beltrame⁶ , F Gobbi⁷ , Z Bisoffi⁷ , F Russo⁸ , G Palù^1,2
View Affiliations Hide Affiliations

Affiliations: ¹ Department of Histology, Microbiology and Medical Biotechnology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy ² Regional Reference Centre for Infectious Diseases, Microbiology and Virology Unit, Padova University Hospital, Padova, Italy ³ Infectious Diseases Unit, Rovigo City Hospital, Rovigo, Italy ⁴ Infectious Disease Unit, Vicenza City Hospital, Vicenza, Italy ⁵ Infectious Disease Unit, Treviso City Hospital, Treviso, Italy ⁶ Clinic of Infectious Diseases, Department of Clinical and Morphological Research, S. M. Misericordia University Hospital, Udine, Italy ⁷ Center for Tropical Diseases, Sacro Cuore Hospital, Negrar, Verona, Italy ⁸ Department of Public Health and Screening, Veneto Region, Venice, Italy

Correspondence:
G Palù
giorgio.palu unipd.it
View Citation Hide Citation

Citation style for this article: Barzon L, Pacenti M, Cusinato R, Cattai M, Franchin E, Pagni S, Martello T, Bressan S, Squarzon L, Cattelan A M, Pellizzer G, Scotton P, Beltrame A, Gobbi F, Bisoffi Z, Russo F, Palù G. Human cases of West Nile Virus Infection in north-eastern Italy, 15 June to 15 November 2010. Euro Surveill. 2011;16(33):pii=19949. https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.16.33.19949-en Received: 19 Jan 2011

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.