New review highlights horses’ role in West Nile surveillance
A new narrative review in Pathogens argues that West Nile virus surveillance in Europe works best when horses are treated as part of a broader One Health early-warning system, not just as spillover cases after human infections appear. The paper, published in March 2026, synthesizes European evidence from 2010 through late 2025 and highlights how climate, mosquito ecology, bird migration, and land-use patterns are reshaping where and when the virus circulates. The authors place particular emphasis on equine sentinel surveillance, pointing to examples such as Italy’s 2022 season, when detections in mosquitoes and birds preceded human and equine cases by weeks. They also connect the European picture to a second 2026 review in Viruses, which describes a similar mismatch in Latin America between widespread enzootic circulation in birds, horses, and mosquitoes, and limited confirmed human case reporting. (mdpi.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the review is a reminder that horses can help flag local West Nile virus activity even though they are dead-end hosts and don’t drive onward transmission. That makes equine case recognition, testing, and reporting valuable for local risk assessment, mosquito control decisions, and communication with public health partners. At the same time, the companion Veterinary Sciences review underscores a practical challenge: diagnosis in horses is often difficult because viraemia is short and low-level, so surveillance depends heavily on serology, case definitions, and coordination across veterinary, laboratory, and public health systems. EU reporting rules require rapid notification of primary outbreaks, and EFSA and ECDC now jointly track infections in humans, equids, and birds through a One Health framework. (efsa.europa.eu)
What to watch: Watch for how European programs refine equine, bird, and mosquito surveillance ahead of the 2026 transmission season, especially in areas where warming conditions are expanding seasonal risk. (mdpi.com)