West Nile Virus State of the Art Report of MALWEST Project

• Main Authors: Andriani Marka, Alexandros Diamantidis, Anna Papa, George Valiakos, Serafeim C. Chaintoutis, Dimitrios Doukas, Persefoni Tserkezou, Alexios Giannakopoulos, Konstantinos Papaspyropoulos, Eleni Patsoula, Evangelos Badieritakis, Agoritsa Baka, Maria Tseroni, Danai Pervanidou, Nikos T. Papadopoulos, George Koliopoulos, Dimitrios Tontis, Chrysostomos I. Dovas, Charalambos Billinis, Athanassios Tsakris, Jenny Kremastinou, Christos Hadjichristodoulou, for the MALWEST project
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2013-12-01
• Series: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Subjects: West Nile virus; Greece; surveillance; control; epidemiology; diagnosis; mosquito; bird; risk assessment; GIS
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/12/6534

During the last three years Greece is experiencing the emergence of West Nile virus (WNV) epidemics. Within this framework, an integrated surveillance and control programme (MALWEST project) with thirteen associate partners was launched aiming to investigate the disease and suggest appropriate interventions. One out of seven work packages of the project is dedicated to the State of the Art report for WNV. Three expert working groups on humans, animals and mosquitoes were established. Medical databases (PubMed, Scopus) were searched together with websites: e.g., WHO, CDC, ECDC. In total, 1,092 relevant articles were initially identified and 258 of them were finally included as references regarding the current knowledge about WNV, along with 36 additional sources (conference papers, reports, book chapters). The review is divided in three sections according to the fields of interest: (1) WNV in humans (epidemiology, molecular characteristics, transmission, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, surveillance); (2) WNV in animals (epidemiological and transmission characteristics concerning birds, horses, reptiles and other animal species) and (3) WNV in mosquitoes (control, surveillance). Finally, some examples of integrated surveillance programmes are presented. The introduction and establishment of the disease in Greece and other European countries further emphasizes the need for thorough research and broadening of our knowledge on this viral pathogen.