West Nile Disease (WND) in Sicily

BACKGROUND WND is an emerging vector-borne zoonosis caused by an RNA virus included in the Japanese encephalitis group within the Flavivirus genus (3, 5). The virus is reported in several countries of the Mediterranean Basin (Fig. 2) and is maintained in nature by cycling through birds and mosquitoes (Fig. 1). In Italy, after the first appearance in Tuscany in 1998 (1), West Nile Virus (WNV) has been continuously circulating since 2008. A National Surveillance Program consisting of monitoring horses, “sentinel poultries”, wild bird mortality and mosquitoes is active in the entire national territory since 2002 (4). Authors describe the outbreaks which occurred in Sicily in 2010 and 2011 (Fig. 3). Case study: Between September-October 2010, seven horses from the western part of the island, in the Trapani province, showed neurological symptoms (2). In October 2011, another two horses suffering from neurological disorders, were observed around Messina, in the eastern part of the island, and near Palermo, in the north west of Sicily.