Albieri A, R Bellini, M Calzolari, P Bonilauri, M Dottori, G Capelli, F Montarsi, P Mulatti, C Casalone, A Pautasso, C Radaelli
19th ESOVE Conference,
13-17 October 2014 – Thessaloniki, Greece.
West Nile Virus (WNV) is an emerging threat in Europe, with more than 800 human cases reported since 2010 in the European Union.
WNV was detected in Italy in 1998 in Padule di Fucecchio (Tuscany), without human cases recorded, then, after ten years, WNV
reappeared northward in Pianura Padana in 2008-2009 affecting Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Lombardia regions where human cases
were recorded. The virus was continuously detected in subsequent years until 2013, with different strains over the years and in
different areas of the Pianura Padana.
The environmental surveillance, particularly based on entomological and bird sampling, is performing well in the early detection of
virus circulation, before the appearance of human and equine cases. For this reason, besides the activities supported by the Ministry
of Health at national level, more detailed surveillance programs were carried out in Pianura Padana at regional level starting in 2008.
For the first time in 2013 five neighboring Regions of Northern Italy activated a similar entomological surveillance, allowing the
2 monitoring of the whole Pianura Padana territory (of about 46,000 Km ).
Scarica poster