Table 1.
Mosquito-borne viruses of medical and veterinary importance circulating in Europe, after [23,24,39,40,41,42,43]. Involvement of Culex pipiens is highlighted using bold typeface.
| Virus | Primary Vertebrate Hosts | Principal Vectors | Medical/Veterinary Importance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Batai virus (Bunyaviridae) | Pigs, horses, ruminants, and isolations from wild birds. | Anopheles maculipennis s.l., Anopheles claviger (Meigen, 1804), Coquillettidia richiardii (Ficalbi, 1889) | Mild illness in sheep/goats. Influenza-like illness in humans. |
| Chikungunya virus (Togaviridae) | Humans as primary reservoirs during epidemics. Non-human reservoirs include monkeys, rodents and birds. | Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus | Fever, joint pain (also chronic), occasional neurological involvement with some deaths reported. |
| Dengue virus (Flaviviridae) | Humans. | Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus | Serotype 1 recorded from Europe. Cases range from asymptomatic to severe haemorrhagic fever. |
| Inkoo virus (Bunyaviridae) | Mountain hares. | Aedes communis (De Geer, 1776) | Influenza-like illness in humans. |
| Lednice virus (Bunyaviridae) | Birds, primarily of the order Anseriformes. | Culex modestus (Ficalbi, 1889) | Unknown, avian fatalities not recorded. |
| Sindbis/Sindbis-like viruses (Togaviridae) | Birds (Passeriformes), occasionally rodents and amphibians. | Culex pipiens, Culex torrentium (Martini, 1925), Culiseta morsitans (Theobald, 1901), Coquillettidia richiardii, Aedes communis, Aedes excrucians (Walker, 1856), Aedes cinereus (Meigen, 1818) and Anopheles hyrcanus s.l. | Sporadic illness in birds, including mortality in chickens. Fever, malaise and potentially chronic arthritis in humans, no mortality. |
| Snowshoe hare virus (Bunyaviridae) | Snowshoe hare, voles, lemmings. | Aedes cinereus, Aedes vexans (Meigen, 1830), Aedes communis, Aedes punctor (Kirby, 1837), Aedes cataphylla (Dyar, 1916), Culiseta inornata (Williston, 1893) and Culiseta impatiens (Walker, 1848) | Non-fatal encephalitis in horses. Fever and occasional CNS involvement in humans. |
| Tahyna virus (Bunyaviridae) | Brown hares, hedgehogs, rodents. | Aedes vexans | Influenza-like illness in humans with occasional CNS involvement. |
| Usutu virus (Flaviviridae) | Birds, particularly the Passeriformes. | Culex spp. including Culex pipiens | Avian mortality recorded in several species. Limited neuroinvasive cases reported from Italy. |
| West Nile virus (Flaviviridae) | Wild birds. Mammals including horses and humans incidental hosts. | Culex pipiens, Culex modestus, Coquillettidia richiardii | Limited avian mortality in Europe, equine febrile illness with ~25% mortality. Severe neurological disease in <1% human infections. |