Bazanow, BarbaraJansen van Vuren, PetrusSzymanski, PiotrStygar, DominikaFracka, AgnieszkaTwardon, JanKozdrowski, RolandPaweska, Janusz Tadeusz2018-08-302018-08-302018-02-17Bażanów, B., Jansen van Vuren, P., Szymański, P. et al. 2018, 'A survey on West Nile and Usutu viruses in horses and birds in Poland', Viruses, vol. 10, art. no. 87, pp. 1-11.1999-4915 (print)1999-4915 (online)10.3390/v10020087http://hdl.handle.net/2263/66378West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV) are members of the family Flaviviridae which, natural life cycles involve mosquito–bird–mosquito transmission. Both represent emerging viruses in Europe with potential to cause neuroinvasive disease in humans. This study investigates the seroprevalence of serum neutralizing antibodies to WNV and to USUV in birds and in horses in Poland. Antibodies against WNV and USUV were detected in 5 (35.7%) and in 1 (7.14%) of 14 birds and in 62 (15.08%) and in 115 (27.98%) of 411 horses, respectively. Twenty-one WNV serologically positive horses (33.87%) and 67 USUV serologically positive horses (58.26%) did not travel outside Polish borders. Given the high abundance of potentially competent mosquito species in Poland, high populations of horses and different bird species, our findings highlight implementation of active control programs, including monitoring of geographic spread and dynamics of WNV and USUV transmission in both primary and accidental hosts. It is also important to improve public health awareness about the disease these viruses may cause.en© 2018 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).AntibodyPolandHorsesBirdsUsutu virus (USUV)West Nile virus (WNV)Article