title: West Nile virus transmission in 2008 in north-eastern Italy.
abstract: After 10 years, West Nile virus (WNV) re-emerged in Italy in August 2008. As on 31 December 2008, the infection affected eight Provinces in three Regions (Emilia Romagna, Veneto, Lombardy), where a total of 794 cases of WNV infection in 251 equine stables were detected on the basis of the clinical signs and as a result of a serological screening in horses living in the area. Only 4.0% (32/794) of the serologically positive animals showed clinical signs, and the 32 clinical cases were reported in 18 different farms. The observed case-fatality rate was 15.6% (5/32). The confirmed clinical cases were detected from end August to mid October. Significant levels of positivity by RT-PCR were also observed in magpies (Pica pica) (9.1%, 95% confidence levels: 6.1-13.4%), carrion crows (Corvus corone) (7.4%, 95% confidence levels: 3.6-14.4%) and rock pigeons (Columba livia) (12.9%, 95% confidence levels: 7.6-21.2%).
authors.affiliation: Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e del Molise G. Caporale, Teramo, Italy. p.calistri@izs.it
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Calistri
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giovannini
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Savini
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Monaco
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bonfanti
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ceolin
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Terregino
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tamba
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cordioli
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lelli
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000821:virology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary*; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology; D006736:Horses; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D014901:West Nile Fever / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission* / Q000662:veterinary / Q000821:virology; D014902:West Nile virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*