On 22 August, a common whitethroat in the Netherlands tested positive for West Nile virus lineage 2. The same bird had tested negative in spring. Subsequent testing of Culex mosquitoes collected in August and early September in the same location generated two of 44 positive mosquito pools, providing first evidence for enzootic transmission in the Netherlands. Sequences generated from the positive mosquito pools clustered with sequences that originate from Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic.
Keywords: Europe; West Nile Virus; West Nile fever; epidemiology; molecular methods, sequencing; outbreaks; surveillance; the Netherlands; viral infections; zoonotic infections.