The mosquito-borne infections of Europe

The number of endemic mosquito-borne infections in -Europe is substantial; some, such as West Nile virus give rise to periodic epidemic outbreaks while others cause only sporadic clinical cases of disease. Overall, there is a rising trend in the number of infections, especially of the arboviruses. Malaria which had been eradicated in Europe by 1975 following the initiation of the WHO eradication campaign, is reappearing in epidemic form in some countries of Eastern Europe and the appearance of sporadic autochthonous cases in western European countries is increasing. New mosquito-borne diseases are appearing in Europe, some of them introduced from endemic countries while others are emerging diseases not previously known to occur on the continent of Europe. Public health authorities and clinicians must be aware of the presence of these infections to ensure accurate diagnosis and treatment of individual cases, or prepare surveillance and control measures should outbreaks occur.