Re-Emergence of a West Nile Virus (WNV) Variant in South Spain with Rapid Spread Capacity

West Nile Virus (WNV) is a mosquito vector-borne zoonosis with an increasing incidence in Europe that has become a public health concern. In Spain, although local circulation has been known for decades, until 2020, when a large outbreak occurred, West Nile Virus cases were scarce and mostly occurred in southern Spain. Since then, there have been new cases every year and the pathogen has spread to new regions. Thus, monitoring of circulating variants and lineages plays a fundamental role in understanding WNV evolution, spread and dynamics. In this study, we sequenced WNV consensus genomes from mosquito pools captured in 2022 as part of a newly implemented surveillance program in southern Spain and compared it to other European, African and Spanish sequences. Characterization of WNV genomes in mosquitoes captured in 2022 reveals the co-circulation of two WNV lineage 1 variants, the one that caused the outbreak in 2020 and another variant that is closely related to variants reported in Spain in 2012, France in 2015, Italy in 2021-2022 and Senegal in 2012-2018. The geographic distribution of these variants indicates that WNV L1 dynamics in southern Europe include an alternating dominance of variants in some territories.This work was funded by Junta de Andalucía contract “63/22“, the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (project PID2020-118921RJ-100/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) and INIA-MAPA agreements EG17-141 and AEG21-198, INIA grant E-RTA2015-00002-C02-00 and the Instituto de Salud Carlos III Project PI19CIII/00014 and the European Commission-NextGenerationEU (Regulation EU 2020/2094), through CSIC’s Global Health Platform (PTI Salud Global+).S

Documento orientativo de especificaciones de los sistemas de autocontrol. 3ª ed

YesEn el ámbito de la seguridad alimentaria, el Sistema de Autocontrol se ha convertido en una herramienta verdaderamente eficaz para asegurar la inocuidad y salubridad de los alimentos. El sistema de Autocontrol está basado en una metodología que ha acabado por imponerse, no sólo por su utilidad científica y técnica, sino por ser hoy una exigencia legal, en el ámbito europeo, y prácticamente una condición previa en el comercio mundial de alimentos. Este documento recoge los últimos avances en los temas de autocontrol con la intención de servir de guía a los responsables de las empresas alimentarias para que pueda ser adaptado a las necesidades de la empresa y como instrumento de trabajo a todos los que participan en el Control Sanitario Oficial de alimentos

Unprecedented increase of West Nile virus neuroinvasive disease, Spain, summer 2020.

Cases of West Nile neuroinvasive disease (WNND) in Spain increased in summer 2020. Here we report on this increase and the local, regional and national public health measures taken in response. We analysed data from regional surveillance networks and the National Epidemiological Surveillance Network, both for human and animal West Nile virus (WNV) infection. During the 2020 season, a total of 77 human cases of WNV infection (median age 65 years; 60% males) were detected in the south-west of Spain; 72 (94%) of these cases developed WNND, presenting as meningoencephalitis, seven of which were fatal. In the previous two decades, only six human cases of WNND were detected in Spain. Reduced activities for vector control this season, together with other factors, might have contributed to the massive increase. Public health measures including vector control, campaigns to raise awareness among physicians and the general population, and interventions to ensure the safety of donations of blood products, organs, cells and tissues were effective to reduce transmission. Going forward, maintenance of vector control activities and an update of the vector-borne diseases response plan in Spain is needed.S