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Review
. 2021 Jul 24;6(3):140.
doi: 10.3390/tropicalmed6030140.

Emerging Trends in the West Nile Virus Epidemiology in Croatia in the 'One Health' Context, 2011-2020

Tatjana Vilibic-Cavlek  1   2 , Vladimir Savic  3 , Ana Klobucar  4 , Thomas Ferenc  5 , Maja Ilic  6 , Maja Bogdanic  1 , Irena Tabain  1 , Vladimir Stevanovic  7 , Marija Santini  8 , Marcela Curman Posavec  4 , Suncica Petrinic  4 , Iva Benvin  7 , Ivana Ferencak  1 , Vlatko Rozac  9 , Ljubo Barbic  7
Affiliations
Review

Emerging Trends in the West Nile Virus Epidemiology in Croatia in the 'One Health' Context, 2011-2020

Tatjana Vilibic-Cavlek et al. Trop Med Infect Dis. .

Abstract

West Nile virus (WNV) is one of the most widely distributed (re-)emerging arboviruses. In Croatia, acute WNV infections as well as seropositivity were detected in humans, horses, birds and poultry. Although serologic evidence of WNV human infections dates back to the 1970s, no clinical cases were reported until 2012. WNV outbreaks, as well as sporadic infections, were continuously recorded in continental Croatian counties from 2012 to 2018. In addition, acute asymptomatic infections (IgM antibodies) in horses have been regularly notified in continental regions since 2012, while seropositive horses (seroprevalence rates 3.7-21.4%) were detected in both continental and coastal regions. Moreover, WNV seropositivity in poultry (1.8-22.9%) was reported from 2013 to 2020. During the largest WNV outbreak in 2018, WNV RNA was detected for the first time in two dead goshawks (Accipiter gentilis) from the same aviary in North-West Croatia, while WNV antibodies were found in one buzzard (Butteo butteo) from the same region. In addition, WNV RNA was detected in a dead blackbird (Turdus merula) at the Croatian littoral. The phylogenetic analysis of 11 strains detected in urine samples of patients with neuroinvasive disease and 1 strain detected in a goshawk showed circulation of WNV lineage 2. Thus far, WNV has not been detected in mosquitoes in Croatia.

Keywords: Croatia; West Nile virus; epidemiology; ‘One Health’.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Seasonal distribution of human WNV infections in Croatia, 2012–2018.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Geographic distribution of human WNV infections, 2012–2018.
Figure 3
Figure 3
WNV infections in horses, 2011–2020.
Figure 4
Figure 4
WNV infections in wild birds, 2018.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Geographic distribution of WNV seropositive poultry, 2013–2020.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Mosquito sampling counties, number of mosquitoes and species tested for WNV in Croatia, 2012–2020 [43,45,46].
Figure 7
Figure 7
The rectangular phylogenetic tree displays genetic diversity of selected West Nile virus (WNV) isolates from Croatia, which belong to WNV lineage 2, as shown in the radial phylogenetic tree. The evolutionary history was inferred on 848 positions of the NS5 gene using the Neighbor-Joining method. Both trees are rooted with the first WNV strain (strain B956, Uganda 1937). Supporting (≥50%) bootstrap values of 1000 replicates are displayed at the nodes. Scale bars indicate nucleotide substitutions per site. The interrupted branches, indicated by double slashes, were shortened by 50% for better graphic representation. WNV isolates from Croatia are marked in bold and with hosts indicated next to the taxa. The Croatian isolates from 2017 are in red and isolates from 2018 in blue color. The other taxa are indicated by GenBank accession numbers as well as with the country of origin and isolation/detection year for those in the rectangular phylogenetic tree. The WNV lineages in the radial tree are proposed by Rizzoli et al. [22].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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