The appearance of West Nile virus in New York in 1999 and the unprecedented panzootic that followed, have stimulated a major research effort in the western hemisphere and a new interest in the presence of this virus in the Old World. This review considers current understanding of the natural history of this pathogen, with particular regard to transmission in Europe.

This descriptive study, based on national surveillance data of reported malaria cases, travelers’ statistics and data on malaria chemoprophylaxis prescriptions, estimates the incidence and trends of imported malaria in the Netherlands.

This paper describes the results of an open-label randomized trial, comparing the use of artesunate and quinine for the treatment of severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria in children in 11 African countries.

This paper describes a small retrospective observational study of Israeli travellers presenting to a tropical medicine clinic with a history of prolonged (4 weeks), non-traumatic arthralgia or arthritis over a 5 year period.

Aedes aegypti is a highly specialized mosquito species feeding predominantly on humans and breeding in artificial water holding containers in urban areas, and currently restricted to subtropical and tropical areas. Williams et al. focus on the reasons why Ae. aegypti once occurred in locations where the mosquito does not occur anymore in Australia, the more temperate drier parts of the country.

In recent years human diseases due to mosquito-borne viruses were increasingly reported in Emilia-Romagna region (Italy), from the chikungunya virus in 2007 to the West Nile virus (WNV) in 2008. An extensive entomological survey was performed in 2009 to establish the presence and distribution of mosquito arboviruses in this region, with particular reference to flaviviruses.

In September 2010, two cases of autochthonous dengue fever were diagnosed in metropolitan France for the first time. The cases occurred in Nice, southeast France, where the vector Aedes albopictus is established.

Artemisinin resistance in falciparum malaria has emerged in western Cambodia exactly where chloroquine resistance arose 50 years ago. Similarly to the resistance to chloroquine that spread to Africa, the experts are wondering whether artemisinin resistance will spread as widely. In such a case the consequences would be disastrous.

A double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-escalation, phase 1 study was performed in 60 healthy subjects between 18 and 49 years of age. The two-dose regimen induced the development of neutralizing antibodies in high percentages of the subjects (from 88% to 100% of subjects depending on antigen content)”.

As parts of Germany are considered potential colonization areas for A. albopictus, monitoring the trends of Chikungunya importation to Germany is a prerequisite for early detection of potential autochthonus cases.