West Nile virus in Europe in 2022 - infections among humans and outbreaks among equids and/or birds, updated 24 August 2022

Since last week’s update, and as of 24 August 2022, European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) countries reported 101 human cases of West Nile virus (WNV) infection and four deaths related to WNV infections. Cases were reported by Italy (70), Greece (24), Romania (6), and Germany (1). Deaths were reported by Greece (2), Italy (1), and Romania (1). EU-neighbouring countries reported 28 human cases of WNV infection in Serbia and three deaths related to WNV infections in Serbia.

This week, among the reporting countries, the following NUTS 3 or GAUL1 regions have reported human cases of WNV infection for the first time: Harz in Germany and Lucca in Italy.

Since the beginning of the 2022 transmission season and as of 24 August 2022, EU/EEA countries have reported 394 human cases of WNV infection as follow: Italy (299), Greece (83), Romania (8), Austria (2), Germany (1), and Slovakia (1). There have been 21 deaths in EU/EEA countries reported in the following countries: Italy (15), Greece (5), and Romania (1). From EU-neighbouring countries Serbia reported 81 cases, of which six have died.

Since the beginning of the 2022 transmission season, 19 outbreaks among equids and 99 outbreaks among birds have been reported by EU/EEA countries. Outbreaks among equids have been reported by Italy (16), Hungary (2), and France (1). Outbreaks among birds have been reported by Italy (98) and Germany (1).