West Nile Virus Epidemic in Germany Triggered by Epizootic Emergence, 2019

Ute Ziegler*, Pauline Dianne Santos*, Martin H. Groschup, Carolin Hattendorf, Martin Eiden, Dirk Höper, Philip Eisermann, Markus Keller, Friederike Michel, Robert Klopfleisch, Kerstin Müller, Doreen Werner, Helge Kampen, Martin Beer, Christina Frank, Raskit Lachmann, Birke Andrea Tews, Claudia Wylezich, Monika Rinder, Lars Lachmann, Thomas Grünewald, Claudia A. Szentiks, Michael Sieg, Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit, Daniel Cadar, Renke Lühken.
* Contributed equally

One year after the first autochthonous transmission of West Nile virus (WNV) to birds and horses in Germany, an epizootic emergence of WNV was again observed in 2019. Germany experienced several WNV introduction events and strains of a distinct group (Eastern German WNV clade) dominated mosquito, birds, horse and human-related virus variants in 2018 and 2019. This study highlights the risk of a further spread in Germany in the next years with additional human WNV infections.

Published April 2020 in Viruses