Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Detection of Infectious Virus from Field-collected Mosquitoes by Vero Cell Culture Assay
Published on: June 9, 2011
Re-emergence of West Nile virus in Italy
1Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e Molise G. Caporale, Teramo, Italy.
Abstract:
In August 2008, West Nile disease re-emerged in Italy. The infection is affecting the North Eastern regions and, as of November 2008, has caused 33 clinical cases and five fatalities in horses. Until now, no deaths have been reported in birds. Mosquitoes, blood, serum and tissue samples, from horses and birds, within and around the outbreak area, have been collected and tested by various methods both serologically and virologically. West Nile virus strains have been isolated from blood samples of one horse and one donkey and from pools of brain, kidneys, heart and spleen of a pigeon and three magpies. When compared to the strain isolated during the 1998 Tuscany outbreak, the 255 bp sequence of the genome region coding for the envelope (E) protein of the isolated WNV strains, exhibited a 98.8% and 100% similarity at nucleotide and amino-acid level respectively.
Related Concept Videos
Arboviral Encephalitis
Encephalitis l: Introduction
Poliomyelitis
Encephalitis ll: Pathophysiology
Viral Meningitis
Investigation of Disease Outbreaks

