Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42797776›Full record

ArticleViruses2026

Exploratory Associations Between Climatic, Environmental, and Surveillance Indicators and Human West Nile Virus Infections in Apulia: A Bayesian Spatio-Temporal Analysis.

Letizia Lorusso, Niccolò Maldera, Nicola Bartolomeo, Francesca Centrone, Maria Chironna, Paolo Trerotoli

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Viruses, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Letizia LorussoDepartment of Precision and Regenerative Medicine-(DiMePRe-J), University of Bari Aldo Moro, Piazza Giulio Cesare 11, 70124 Bari, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-2058-9284
Niccolò MalderaDepartment of Mathematics, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Piazza Giulio Cesare 11, 70124 Bari, Italy.ORCID 0009-0009-9725-2194
Nicola BartolomeoDepartment of Interdisciplinary Medicine, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Piazza Giulio Cesare 11, 70124 Bari, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-8540-4615
Francesca CentroneLaboratory of Public Health, AOUC Policlinico di Bari, 70124 Bari, Italy.ORCID 0000-0003-3018-5408
Maria ChironnaDepartment of Interdisciplinary Medicine, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Piazza Giulio Cesare 11, 70124 Bari, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-1043-1256
Paolo TrerotoliDepartment of Interdisciplinary Medicine, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Piazza Giulio Cesare 11, 70124 Bari, Italy.ORCID 0000-0001-7102-9108

Funding

European Union PE_0000007
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

West Nile virus (WNV) transmission has intensified and expanded in Italy, but quantitative evidence on how local climatic and environmental conditions influence human risk in southern regions remains limited. This study examined the association between meteorological, environmental, and host-related factors and West Nile virus (WNV) cases at the municipal level in Apulia in 2023. Human WNV cases were georeferenced at the municipal level and linked to monthly indicators (minimum and maximum temperature, precipitation, surface water extent, green area coverage, land-use change, avian occurrence). A Bayesian spatio-temporal Poisson model with a conditional autoregressive structure was fitted to monthly counts of human WNV cases, with equine WNV cases, climatic, environmental and avian indicators included as covariates. Eight human WNV cases were reported between August and October and four equine WNV cases between September and November, with partial spatial and temporal overlap. In univariable analyses, the strongest associations were observed for meteorological variables, particularly temperature. In the final multivariable model, higher maximum temperature at a two-month lag was associated with increased WNV risk (RR = 1.53; 95% CrI: 1.18-2.23), while minimum temperature was excluded due to collinearity with maximum temperature. Green area coverage and water body extent showed uncertain effects. Model-based maps indicated that elevated fitted risk was concentrated in a narrow temporal window between August and October, expanding sharply across the region in September before receding, rather than describing a stable, spatially fixed hotspot. This exploratory analysis suggests that reported human WNV infections in Apulia in 2023 were temporally concentrated during the late summer/early autumn period and that maximum temperature at a two-month lag was positively associated with the outcome in the selected model. The findings are hypothesis-generating and should be interpreted with caution given the very small number of events, but they illustrate the feasibility of integrating multisource epidemiological, climatic, environmental, and veterinary data to support locally tailored early-warning efforts in southern Italy.

Indexed as

ClimateWest Nile FeverAnimalsBayes TheoremEnvironmentHorse DiseasesHorsesHumansItalyMosquito-Borne DiseasesSeasonsSpatio-Temporal AnalysisTemperatureWest Nile virusBayesian spatio-temporal Poisson modelclimatic and environmental factorsItalymultisource surveillancerisk mappingWest Nile virus (WNV)

Identifiers

PMID42797776
PMCPMC13611936

What Socratic holds

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.