Case study: A One Health approach for integrated West Nile virus (WNV) surveillance

Topic outline

• Purpose

  Purpose

  The aim of this case study is to demonstrate the application of One Health principles to the development of an integrated West Nile virus (WNV) surveillance programme for the early detection of WNV circulation in order to better protect human and animal health.

  It is based on lessons learnt in Serbia following the WNV outbreak that occurred between June and November 2013.

  
  
• Intended learning outcomes

  Intended learning outcomes
  • By the end of this case study, participants should be able to:

    • Explain One Health principles and their application to surveillance of zoonotic diseases.
    • Describe the WNV transmission cycle and how it informs the design of an integrated surveillance system using One Health principles.
    • Explain the role of human, animal, and environmental surveillance in WNV early detection and preparedness planning to reduce transmission and protect health. 
    • Explain the objectives and rationale of human surveillance.
    • Explain the objectives of vector surveillance and define mosquito-based indicators.
    • Explain the objectives of avian surveillance including its strengths and limitations.
    • Explain the objectives of host mammal surveillance including its strengths and limitations.

• How to use this case study

  How to use this case study
  • This case study is designed as stand-alone.

    The participants will receive a handout with the scenario and questions they need work on.

    Participants should go through the case study, question by question. Each question is followed by a paragraph summarising the answer to the previous questions and introducing the next ones.

    Participants should refrain from reading the following pages until all previous questions have been answered.

    This document is a facilitator guide. It includes the same content as the participant handout and some hints highlighted in grey to guide the discussion for each question.

    To ensure the smooth running of the case study, it is advised to discuss some rules with the group.

    Below are some suggestions on how to run the case study:

    1. Distribution: It is proposed to distribute one section at a time or to advise learners not to look at the following pages before they have answered all previous questions.
    2.  Reading Aloud: Participants can take turns to read it aloud paragraph by paragraph.
       Note: Reading all paragraphs aloud and in turn has two advantages:
       - Everyone can quickly participate and go beyond the inhibition of having their voice heard in a large room.
       - Time is given to the whole group to understand the issue and think about the answers.
    3. Answering Questions: The participant reading the question may try to answer it first. Then, the question is discussed as a group. As a facilitator you can share some hints (highlighted in grey) to guide the discussion but should not read them directly to participants. The next participant then reads the next question and so on until the end of the section.
    4.  Reviewing Objectives: Once the epilogue has been read, it is proposed to go back to the purpose and intended learning outcomes again. This re-iterates the acquisitions and provides an additional opportunity to clarify what may have been misunderstood or not fully acquired.

    Estimated duration of the case study: 2 – 2.5 hours
    

    
    

• Training material

  Training material
  • FileParticipant handout
  • FileFacilitator guide
• Credits

  Credits
  • This case study was initially adapted by Dr Mitra Drakulovic, National Public Health Institute “Dr Milan Jovanovic-Batut” Belgrade, Serbia for MediPIET training purposes (MediPIET Module of Vectorborne Diseases and Zoonosis, April 2016, March 2017) from a previous existing case study for the WNV outbreak in Greece October 2011.

    Source:

    This case study is built around the first large West Nile virus (WNV) outbreak that occurred in Serbia between June and November 2013. The case study deals with the descriptive part of the outbreak investigation of WNV (Part 1) and mosquito surveillance in Serbia (Part 2).

     

    Authors:

    Mitra Drakulovic, based on the CS of “WNV outbreak in Greece, 2010” developed by Takis Panagiotopoulos & Kostas Danis in 2013. This CS has an additional learning objective related to mosquito surveillance principles and concepts (see Part 2), as compared with the Greek CS.

    Reviewers:

    Adela Páez, MediPIET Scientific Coordinator supported the author to adapt the original CS from Greece. The Serbian CS was further reviewed by the entire MediPIET Scientific Coordinators team at that time in April 2016 (Ahmed Zaghloul, Marie Belizaire & Nikoletta Mavroeidi). In October 2020, it has been reviewed again by the author and MediPIET Scientific Coordinators (Adela Páez, Iro Evlampidou & Angeliki Lambrou).

    Revisions:

    The case study was revised and modified for the One Health module in 2023 (Emily White Johansson and Pawel Stefanoff). This revision updated the learning objectives, removed sections on the WNV outbreak investigation, and added sections on animal and avian surveillance to complement descriptions of human and vector surveillance from the original case study. The case study was reviewed in 2024 by Mitra Drakulovic (Serbia NPHI), Netta Beer, Timothee Dub and Pawel Stefanoff (ECDC).

• License

  License
  • Click here to read about the licensing and terms of use of the training materials.

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