West Nile virus surveillance in mosquitoes, April to October 2013, Vojvodina province, Serbia: implications for the 2014 season

Abstract

After the West Nile virus (WNV) outbreak in 2012, we collected mosquito samples from Vojvodina province, Serbia, in 2013. We found high WNV infection rate in two species, Culex pipiens and Anopheles maculipennis. Phylogenetic analysis showed that Serbian WNV strains from 2013 were most closely related to Italian and Greek strains isolated in 2012 and 2010, respectively. Public health authorities should be aware of a potentially increased risk of WNV activity during the 2014 season.