A West Nile virus infection has been confirmed in a blood donor in the Netherlands. This occurred in August 2026 during a Sanquin study among blood donors from areas where the West Nile virus had previously been detected in humans, horses, birds or mosquitoes. A laboratory test (PCR) detected the virus in the donor, who had no symptoms and is still not showing any. The person lives in the province of Utrecht and has not been abroad recently. It is therefore likely that the infection was contracted in the Netherlands.

This is the first confirmed case of a human infection in 2026 that originated in the Netherlands. The last time people contracted a West Nile virus infection in the Netherlands was in 2020.

Read more on the RIVM website.

Source: RIVM
Date: 17-08-2026

Mosquito-borne disease research at the PDPC

The PDPC also investigates mosquito-borne diseases in the Netherlands. For example, read more about the first discovery of the West Nile virus in a Dutch bird in 2020, and our seven-year study (2016-2022) documenting the emergence and spread of Usutu virus and West Nile virus in the Netherlands.

You can also read more about the Flooding of the Eendragtspolder experiment, where researchers investigated how we can limit the spread of mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases.