1. The challenge of West Nile virus in Europe: knowledge gaps and research priorities
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Sebastian Ulbert, Norbert Nowotny, Ana Moreno, Luisa Barzon, N. Pardigon, Penelope Koraka, Antonio Tenorio, Miguel Ángel Jiménez-Clavero, Jordi Figuerola, Paolo Cordioli, Niek N. Sanders, Byron E. E. Martina, Annapaola Rizzoli, Fondazione Edmund Mach - Edmund Mach Foundation [Italie] (FEM), Centro de Investigacion en Sanidad Animal (INIA-CISA), Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria = National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (INIA), Universita degli Studi di Padova, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna 'Bruno Ubertini' (IZSLER), Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas (CSIC), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [Madrid] (CSIC), Erasmus University Medical Center [Rotterdam] (Erasmus MC), University of Veterinary Medicine [Vienna] (Vetmeduni), Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), Institut Pasteur [Paris], Universiteit Gent = Ghent University [Belgium] (UGENT), Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology (Fraunhofer IZI), Fraunhofer (Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft), Instituto de Salud Carlos III [Madrid] (ISC), This paper is the product of a cooperative action promoted by the Coordinators and delegates of the EU funded projects on West Nile virus under the 7th European Programme, in particular the EuroWestNile project (www.eurowestnile.org, GA n. 261391), the EDENext project (www.edenext.eu , GA n. 261504) the Wings project (www.west-nile-shield-project.eu , GA n. 261426), and the Vectorie project (www.vectorie.eu , GA n. 261466). This study was partially funded by EU grant FP7-261504 EDENext and is catalogued by the EDENext Steering Committee as EDENext 142 (http://www.edenext.eu). AR was partially funded by the Autonomous Province of Trento grant LExEM (http://www.lexem.eu). The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and don't necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission., This paper is dedicated to the memory of our wonderful colleague and friend, Dr Paolo Cordioli, who recently passed away. We thank the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) for supporting this initiative and for promoting a stronger integration between public health and research in Europe. We also thank Dr Jolanta Kolodziejek of the Institute of Virology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna for establishing the phylogenetic trees and Matteo Marcantonio of the GIS/RS platform at the Edmund Mach Foundation for preparing the map in Figure 1, European Project: 261391,EC:FP7:HEALTH,FP7-HEALTH-2010-single-stage,EUROWESTNILE(2011), European Project: 261504,EC:FP7:HEALTH,FP7-HEALTH-2010-single-stage,EDENEXT(2011), European Project: 261426,EC:FP7:HEALTH,FP7-HEALTH-2010-single-stage,WINGS(2011), European Project: 261466,EC:FP7:HEALTH,FP7-HEALTH-2010-single-stage,VECTORIE(2010), Virology, Università degli Studi di Padova = University of Padua (Unipd), Institut Pasteur [Paris] (IP), Universiteit Gent = Ghent University (UGENT), and Publica
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Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ,Veterinary medicine ,Economic growth ,WNV STRAINS ,Epidemiology ,viruses ,MESH: Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ,medicine.disease_cause ,Disease Outbreaks ,EXPERIMENTAL-INFECTION ,ENVELOPE PROTEIN ,Neuroinvasive disease ,Medicine and Health Sciences ,MESH: Genetic Variation ,MESH: Disease Outbreaks ,MESH: Phylogeny ,Phylogeny ,media_common ,EARLY WARNING SYSTEM ,biology ,SUBSTITUTION ,AMINO-ACID ,3. Good health ,Europe ,MESH: Research ,Geography ,Population Surveillance ,[SDV.MP.VIR]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and Parasitology/Virology ,West Nile virus ,SPARROWS PASSER-DOMESTICUS ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Ecology (disciplines) ,MESH: Population Surveillance ,SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being ,Virology ,medicine ,Humans ,media_common.cataloged_instance ,Veterinary Sciences ,European union ,TIME RT-PCR ,Settore VET/06 - PARASSITOLOGIA E MALATTIE PARASSITARIE DEGLI ANIMALI ,MESH: West Nile virus ,MESH: West Nile Fever ,MESH: Humans ,Research ,LINEAGE 1 STRAIN ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,Genetic Variation ,Outbreak ,biology.organism_classification ,USUTU VIRUS ,Early warning system ,MESH: Europe ,CULEX-PIPIENS MOSQUITOS ,Usutu virus ,West Nile Fever ,Diversity (politics) - Abstract
West Nile virus (WNV) is continuously spreading across Europe, and other continents, i.e. North and South America and many other regions of the world. Despite the overall sporadic nature of outbreaks with cases of West Nile neuroinvasive disease (WNND) in Europe, the spillover events have increased and the virus has been introduced into new areas. The high genetic diversity of the virus, with remarkable phenotypic variation, and its endemic circulation in several countries, require an intensification of the integrated and multidisciplinary research efforts built under the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union (FP7). It is important to better clarify several aspects of WNV circulation in Europe, including its ecology, genomic diversity, pathogenicity, transmissibility, diagnosis and control options, under different environmental and socio-economic scenarios. Identifying WNV endemic as well as infection-free areas is becoming a need for the development of human vaccines and therapeutics and the application of blood and organs safety regulations. This review, produced as a joint initiative among European experts and based on analysis of 118 scientific papers published between 2004 and 2014, provides the state of knowledge on WNV and highlights the existing knowledge and research gaps that need to be addressed with high priority in Europe and neighbouring countries.
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- 2015
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