West Nile virus vaccines – current situation and future directions

West Nile virus (WNV) is a widely spread human pathogenic arthropod-borne virus. It can lead to severe, sometimes fatal, neurological disease. Over the last two decades, several vaccine candidates for the protection of humans from WNV have been developed. Some technologies were transferred into clinical testing, but these approaches have not yet led to a licensed product. This review summarizes the current status of a human WNV vaccine and discusses reasons for the lack of clinically advanced product candidates. It also discusses the problem of immunological cross-reactivity between flaviviruses and how it can be addressed during vaccine development.