Czech Republic - West Nile virus in Overwintering Mosquitoes

[Gert van der Hoek]

Location of Czech Republic and South Moravia.


Danger in the Czech Republic: Mosquitoes are infected with West Nile fever

June 19, 2018

Brno - Mosquitoes in South Moravia are infected with a Westnile fever virus, which is fatally dangerous. So far, there is no indication of the disease being transferred from a mosquito to a human being, but the risk exists according to experts.

Western migratory birds were introduced into the Czech Republic, and mosquitoes also infected them. Infected mosquitoes have been found by scientists in South Moravia. "It is not excluded that they occur elsewhere in the republic," the epidemiologist Oldřich ?ebesta of the Regional Hygienic Station in Brno told Mlada fronta Dnes. Virus isolates were specialists in Culex modestus mosquito, which occurs mainly at ponds. Mosquitoes can also adapt to urban conditions.


"We still do not know the case in the Czech Republic that West Nile Fever will be transferred from mosquito to man, but there is a risk and everybody should get a good repellent," ?ebesta said. Western moral disease in mosquitoes was detected by South Moravian epidemiologists during regular inspections. "It can not be said exactly how many of them may be, of which a few percent of the mosquitoes may be," added ?ebesta.

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

The article above seems to be based on the information of this research:

Parasit Vectors. 2017; 10: 452.
Published online 2017 Oct 2. doi: 10.1186/s13071-017-2399-7

West Nile virus in overwintering mosquitoes, central Europe

Abstract

[FONT=&quot]Background

West Nile virus (WNV) is currently the most important mosquito-borne pathogen spreading in Europe. Data on overwintering of WNV in mosquitoes are crucial for understanding WNV circulation in Europe; nonetheless, such data were not available so far.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Results

A total of 28,287 hibernating mosquitoes [27,872 Culex pipiens, 73 Anopheles maculipennis (sensu lato), and 342 Culiseta annulata], caught in February or March between 2011 and 2017 in a WNV-endemic region of South Moravia, Czech Republic, were screened for the presence of WNV RNA. No WNV positive pools were found from 2011 to 2016, while lineage 2 WNV RNA was detected in three pools of Culex pipensmosquitoes collected in 2017 at two study sites.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Conclusions

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first record of WNV RNA in overwintering mosquitoes in Europe. The data support the hypothesis of WNV persistence in mosquitoes throughout the winter season in Europe.[/FONT]

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

The first autochthonous human case of West Nile fever in the Czech Republic was reported from South Moravia in 1997. In 2013, another case of West Nile fever emerged in this country, in the Ostrava area.

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

See also:

Czech Republic; West Nile Virus found in mosquitoes - Expansion of European WNV endemic area?

August 8th, 2014