West Nile virus (WNV) is a flavivirus transmitted by mosquitoes. Birds are the reservoir for the virus; humans, horses and other mammals are dead-end hosts. Infections caused by WNV in humans can vary from asymptomatic infections to West Nile fever (WNF) or West Nile neuroinvasive disease (WNND). In 1995, a serosurvey was performed in Slovenia on forest workers, and WNV specific IgG antibodies were confirmed in 6.8% of the screened samples, indicating that WNV is circulating in Slovenia. No human disease cases were detected in Slovenia until 2013, when the first case of WNV infection was confirmed in a retrospective study in a 79-year old man with meningitis. In 2018, three patients with WNND were confirmed by laboratory tests, with detection of IgM antibodies in the cerebrospinal fluid of the patients. In one of the patients, WNV RNA was detected in the urine sample. In 2017, 2018 and 2019, a mosquito study was performed in Slovenia. Mosquitoes were sampled on 14 control locations and 35 additional locations in 2019. No WNV was detected in mosquitoes in 2017 and 2019, but we confirmed the virus in a pool of Culex sp. mosquitoes in 2018. The virus was successfully isolated, and complete genome sequence was acquired. The whole genome of the WNV was also sequenced from the patient’s urine sample. The whole genome sequences of the WNV virus detected in Slovenian patient and mosquito indicate the virus most likely spread from the north, because of the geographic proximity and because the sequences cluster with the Austrian and Hungarian sequences. A sentinel study was performed on dog sera samples, and we were able to confirm IgG antibodies in 1.8% and 4.3% of the samples in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Though Slovenia is not a highly endemic country for WNV, we have established that the virus circulates in Slovenia.

中文翻译：

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斯洛文尼亚的西尼罗河病毒。

西尼罗河病毒（WNV）是由蚊子传播的黄病毒。鸟类是病毒的储存库。人类，马匹和其他哺乳动物是死胡同。由WNV引起的人类感染可从无症状感染到西尼罗河热（WNF）或西尼罗河神经浸润性疾病（WNND）。1995年，在斯洛文尼亚对森林工人进行了一次血清调查，在筛选出的样本中有6.8％证实了WNV特异性IgG抗体，表明WNV在斯洛文尼亚正在流行。直到2013年为止，斯洛文尼亚都未发现人类疾病病例。2013年，一项回顾性研究在一名79岁的脑膜炎男子中证实了第一例WNV感染。2018年，三名WNND患者通过实验室检查得到证实，并检测了患者脑脊液中的IgM抗体。在其中一名患者中，在尿液样本中检测到WNV RNA。在2017年，2018年和2019年，在斯洛文尼亚进行了一项蚊子研究。在2019年的14个控制地点和其他35个地点对蚊子进行了采样。2017年和2019年在蚊子中未检测到WNV，但是我们在一个库克斯菌 蚊子在2018年。成功分离出该病毒，并获得了完整的基因组序列。WNV的整个基因组也从患者的尿液样本中测序。在斯洛文尼亚患者和蚊子中检测到的WNV病毒的整个基因组序列表明，该病毒最有可能从北部传播，这是因为地理位置相近并且该序列与奥地利和匈牙利序列聚类。对狗血清样本进行了定点研究，我们能够分别在2017年和2018年确认样本中1.8％和4.3％的IgG抗体。尽管斯洛文尼亚不是WNV的高度流行国家，但我们已经确定该病毒在斯洛文尼亚传播。