Overview
Since the beginning of the 2026 transmission season, and as of 8 July, 11 areas affected by West Nile virus (WNV) have been identified in five countries across Europe.
These areas are located in Italy (five), North Macedonia (two), Romania (two), Greece (one) and Spain (one).
The report is available online.
Throughout the season, ECDC will publish a weekly report with updates on risk areas for locally acquired WNV infections. A monthly report will also be published.
WNV infection in humans is a notifiable disease at EU level and cases should be reported by national public health authorities through the EpiPulse Cases platform according to the EU case definition. According to Commission Directives 2004/33/EC and 2014/110/EU on blood safety, blood establishments in EU/EEA countries should apply temporary deferral criteria for donors of allogeneic blood donation for 28 days after they have left a risk area for locally acquired WNV, unless an individual nucleic acid test (NAT) is negative. WNV surveillance activities carried out by ECDC support the competent authorities responsible for blood safety in the implementation of these directives.
Actions
ECDC will provide weekly and monthly updates with the latest reports on cases of WNV infections in Europe. A map and table will be updated every Friday from now until November, as this is the time of year when WNV infections are most likely to be reported.
ECDC will provide an enhanced analysis of the current WNV epidemiology on a monthly basis together with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which includes the number of locally acquired human cases reported, outbreaks of West Nile fever in equids and birds notified to the Animal Disease Information System (ADIS) of the European Commission, and an assessment of the situation.