West Nile fever

The West Nile fever is a by the West Nile virus caused infectious disease that mainly in birds , but occasionally in mammals (including humans occurs). The occurrence of birds or horses in Germany is a notifiable animal disease , which was first detected there in 2018 in Saxony-Anhalt on a great gray owl from Halle .

Symptoms

In humans, there are no symptoms from the infection in 80% of cases . In other cases, flu- like symptoms arise . The virus is able to cross the blood-brain barrier and can cause encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), meningitis (inflammation of the meninges) or acute flaccid paralysis ( paralysis ); this happens in less than 0.67% of cases. Both forms can be fatal, with a mortality rate of up to 10% if the central nervous system is involved (“neuroinvasive forms”). According to recent research, the virus can also cause kidney failure .

In addition, the neuroinvasive infections often lead to severe permanent disabilities. People over the age of 50 are at a higher risk of developing a severe form of the disease. Symptoms develop after 3 to 14 days of incubation .

treatment

There is currently no effective treatment. However, researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are currently in the process of developing an antibody that is effective against the virus and which has been discovered in mice for use in humans. They have succeeded in converting this E16 antibody so that it is no longer recognized and rejected by the human immune system as foreign. The resulting monoclonal antibody E16 has already proven to be just as effective in virus defense in mice as its original model. If further studies confirm the effectiveness and safety of the new antibody, it should then be tested in humans.

prophylaxis

In horses there is the possibility to vaccinate prophylactically against the West Nile virus. The standing veterinary vaccination commission (Stiko Vet) recommends vaccinating the horses in the affected areas. The basic immunization of the horses should be completed before the start of the next mosquito season. Depending on the further epidemic, a nationwide vaccination of horses throughout Germany should be aimed for in the medium term.

Notification requirement for humans

In Germany, evidence of the West Nile virus pathogen must be reported by name in accordance with Section 7 (1) of the Infection Protection Act (IfSG) , provided the evidence indicates an acute infection. Laboratories etc. are required to report ( Section 8 IfSG).

In Austria, West Nile fever is a notifiable disease in accordance with Section 1 (1) No. 2 of the 1950 Epidemic Act . Cases of illness and death must be reported. Doctors and laboratories, among others, are obliged to report this ( Section 3 Epidemics Act).

In Switzerland there is mandatory reporting of West Nile fever in terms of a positive laboratory analytical finding by the attending physician. In addition, in the event of a positive laboratory finding for the West Nile virus pathogen by the examining laboratory. This results from the Epidemics Act (EpG) in conjunction with the Epidemics Ordinance and Annex 1 or Annex 3 of the Ordinance of the FDHA on the reporting of observations of communicable diseases in humans .

Web links

Wiktionary: West Nile Fever  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• West Nile Fever - Information from the Robert Koch Institute
• West Nile fever - Information from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ FLI determines for the first time West Nile virus infection in a bird in Germany .
2. ^ Lyle R. Petersen, Marc Fischer: Unpredictable and Difficult to Control - The Adolescence of West Nile Virus. In: New England Journal of Medicine. Volume 367, Issue 14 of October 4, 2012, doi: 10.1056 / NEJMp1210537 , pp. 1283-1285.
3. ↑ Dangerous holiday souvenirs at the office hours of Deutschlandfunk on August 6, 2013.
4. ↑ Development of a human live attenuated West Nile infectious DNA vaccine: Identification of a minimal mutation set conferring the attenuation level acceptable for a human vaccine . In: Virology . tape 500 , January 1, 2017, ISSN  0042-6822 , p. 122–129 , doi : 10.1016 / j.virol.2016.10.012 ( sciencedirect.com [accessed August 30, 2018]).
5. ^ Opinion on the immunization of horses against the West Nile virus. Retrieved October 11, 2019 . 

This article is about a health issue. It is not used for self-diagnosis and does not replace a diagnosis by a doctor. Please note the information on health issues !