Report on Surveillance of the West Nile Virus and Other Arboviruses in Québec: 2016 Season
In 2016, the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS) asked the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) to add the eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) and the California serogroup viruses (CSGV) to the West Nile virus (WNV) integrated surveillance. The MSSS also requested surveillance of the Aedes albopictus mosquito.
During 2016, 30 cases of WNV infection and five cases of encephalitis linked to CSGV were reported to the public health service. All of the cases were acquired in Québec.
Therefore, 53 entomological stations were set up in the province of Québec: three specifically to collect EEEV vectors, nine for Aedes albopictus surveillance, and 41 for combined WNV and CSGV surveillance. In all, 935 mosquito pools were tested for WNV, 101 for EEEV, and 91 for CSGV. Among them, 28 (3%), 4 (4%) and 2 (2%), respectively, tested positive for these viruses. No Aedes albopictus mosquitoes were collected.
Lastly, eleven wild birds and two horses were reported positive for WNV and two horses were reported positive for EEEV during the year.