West Nile Virus Occurrence and Ecological Niche Modeling in Wild Bird Species and Mosquito Vectors: An Active Surveillance Program in the Peloponnese Region of Greece.

ABSTRACT: West Nile Virus (WNV) is maintained in nature in a bird-mosquito cycle and human infections follow a seasonal pattern, favored by climatic conditions. Peloponnese Region, located in Southern Greece, initiated an active WNV surveillance program to protect public health during 2019-2020. The project included monitoring of avian hosts and mosquito vectors, while sampling locations were prioritized after consideration of WNV circulation in birds, mosquitos and humans during previous seasons. Biological materials were collected from 493 wild birds of 25 species and 678 mosquito pools, which were molecularly screened for WNV presence. In this case, 14 environmental variables were associated with WNV detection in wild birds and mosquitos by using two separate MaxEnt models. Viral RNA was not dete

SUBMITTER: Sofia M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9320058 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature