Importance of dogs as sentinels of West Nile Virus activity in urban and suburban areas

West Nile Virus (WNV) is a virus included in the Japanese encephalitis sero-complex within the genus Flavivirus. In August 2010, cases of West Nile disease were reported for the first time in Sicily. Neurological symptoms were observed in native horses resident in the rural areas around the province of Trapani, in the western part of the island. During the epidemic, important critical questions on when the virus was introduced in the area and about whether the virus had circulated/was circulating in the urban area, emerged and needed to be answered. A retrospective study using dog serum samples was designed to answer these questions.