West Nile reviews highlight horses’ role in Europe’s surveillance
West Nile virus reviews sharpen the case for horses as sentinels in Europe
A new trio of review papers is pulling together the current picture of West Nile virus across Europe and the Americas, with the clearest veterinary takeaway coming from Europe: horses can serve as an early warning system inside a broader One Health surveillance model. In Pathogens, Paula Nistor and colleagues synthesize European evidence on epidemiology, vector ecology, climate and land-use drivers, and surveillance, arguing that equine data can help flag local viral circulation before human cases rise. A companion review in Veterinary Sciences focuses on the diagnostic challenges in horses, especially the short, low-level viraemia that limits PCR sensitivity and the serologic cross-reactivity that can complicate interpretation, while a third paper in Viruses widens the lens to Latin America and highlights how enzootic circulation in birds, mosquitoes, and horses can outpace recognition of human risk. (mdpi.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the message is practical: equine surveillance is most useful when it’s integrated with mosquito, bird, and human monitoring, not treated as a standalone tool. The European review points to systems in countries such as Italy and Greece, where coordinated surveillance has helped detect viral activity earlier in the transmission season, and EFSA says its joint work with ECDC now tracks infections in humans, equids, and birds through a shared One Health framework. That matters because Europe’s 2025 season again showed how active animal surveillance can complement public health monitoring: by early December 2025, outbreaks in birds and/or equids had been reported in 116 regions across 11 countries, with equid outbreaks above the 10-year monthly average in June through August. (mdpi.com)
What to watch: Expect more focus on harmonized horse testing, cross-sector data sharing, and earlier seasonal surveillance as Europe prepares for the next mosquito season under increasingly favorable climate conditions for WNV transmission. (mdpi.com)