Abstract
Between 28 June and 17 September 2018, 27 cases of human West Nile virus infections were recorded in Austria; four cases of West Nile neuroinvasive disease, 11 cases of West Nile fever, six infections detected by blood donation screening and six imported cases. In addition, 18 cases of human Usutu virus infections (all blood donors) were recorded. This is the highest number of annual infections recorded in Austria since the introduction of both viruses.
Highlights
Between 28 June and 17 September 2018, 27 cases of human West Nile virus infections were recorded in Austria; four cases of West Nile neuroinvasive disease, 11 cases of West Nile fever, six infections detected by blood donation screening and six imported cases
Four cases were West Nile neuroinvasive disease (WNND), 11 cases were West Nile fever (WNF), six were West Nile virus (WNV) infections detected by blood donation screening and six cases were associated with travels to Serbia (n = 2), Italy (n = 1), Greece (n = 1), Hungary (n = 1), and Croatia (n = 1)
Obligatory seasonal blood donation screening and subsequent testing by virus-specific RT-PCR assays revealed 18 USUV infections among blood donors, which is the highest number of human infections reported since the emergence of USUV in Austria in 2001 [12]
Summary
Citation style for this article: Aberle Stephan W., Kolodziejek Jolanta, Jungbauer Christof, Stiasny Karin, Aberle Judith H., Zoufaly Alexander, Hourfar Michael Kai, Weidner Lisa, Nowotny Norbert. Between 28 June and 17 September 2018, 27 cases of human West Nile virus infections were recorded in Austria; four cases of West Nile neuroinvasive disease, 11 cases of West Nile fever, six infections detected by blood donation screening and six imported cases. Increasing USUV activity in birds in recent years in Austria was reflected in human infections, when one of four, and six of seven flavivirus NAT-positive blood donations turned out to be USUV positive and not WNV positive in 2016 and 2017, respectively (Table 1) [9]
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