European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Stockholm.
Members of the European Union West Nile fever working group are listed at the end of the article.
Euro Surveill. 2019 Apr;24(16). doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2019.24.16.1800349.
West Nile virus (WNV) infection is notifiable in humans and equids in the European Union (EU). An area where a human case is detected is considered affected until the end of the mosquito transmission season (week 48) and blood safety measures have to be implemented. We used human and equine case notifications between 2013 and 2017 to define the WNV distribution in the EU and to investigate the relevance of using equine cases as a complementary trigger for blood safety measures. Adding areas with equine cases to the definition of an affected area would have a major impact on blood safety measures. Adding areas with equine cases where human cases have been reported in the past would increase the timeliness of blood safety measures with only a limited impact. Although the occurrence of human and/or equine cases confirms virus circulation in the EU, no evidence was found that occurrence of equine cases leads to human cases and vice versa. We conclude that information about equine data should contribute to raising awareness among public health experts and trigger enhanced surveillance. Further studies are required before extending the definition of affected areas to areas with human and/or equine cases.
西尼罗河病毒（WNV）感染在欧盟（EU）的人类和马属动物中是应报告的。发现人类病例的地区被认为受到影响，直到蚊子传播季节结束（第 48 周），并且必须实施血液安全措施。我们使用 2013 年至 2017 年期间的人类和马属动物病例报告来确定欧盟内 WNV 的分布情况，并调查使用马属动物病例作为血液安全措施补充触发因素的相关性。将有马属动物病例的地区纳入受影响地区的定义将对血液安全措施产生重大影响。将过去有人类病例报告的有马属动物病例的地区纳入定义，将在有限的影响下提高血液安全措施的及时性。尽管人类和/或马属动物病例的发生证实了病毒在欧盟的传播，但没有证据表明马属动物病例的发生会导致人类病例，反之亦然。我们的结论是，有关马属动物数据的信息应有助于提高公共卫生专家的认识，并引发加强监测。在将受影响地区的定义扩展到有人类和/或马属动物病例的地区之前，需要进行进一步的研究。
