West Nile, what happens in Italy. Report Iss
The number of people affected by the West Nile virus in Italy continues to grow, where cases are concentrated in the northern regions. Here are the data from the latest bulletin of the Higher Institute of Health
The update of the Higher Institute of Health (ISS) continues on the progress of the spread of the West Nile virus or Nile fever which recorded the first human case of the season, in Italy, in June in Veneto.
THE DATA OF THE BULLETIN
The number of people affected by the West Nile virus continues to rise. Since the beginning of June, reports the ISS, 144 cases of human infection have been reported in Italy.
SYMPTOMS AND REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION
Of these, 87 occurred in the neuro-invasive form (22 Emilia-Romagna, 50 Veneto, 8 Piedmont, 5 Lombardy, 2 Friuli-Venezia Giulia), 23 cases were identified in blood donors (3 Lombardy, 11 Veneto, 6 Emilia-Romagna, 3 Piedmont), 33 in cases of fever (1 Piedmont, 3 Lombardy, 27 Veneto, 2 Emilia-Romagna) and 1 symptomatic case (Veneto).
The deaths reported so far have been 10: 6 in Veneto, 2 in Piedmont, 1 in Lombardy and 1 in Emilia-Romagna.
THE USUTU VIRUS
The Usutu virus, which bears a certain resemblance to West Nile, until the previous bulletin had been traced only in mosquito and bird pools, but now the first two asymptomatic cases in humans have been reported in Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
ANIMAL MONITORING
Veterinary surveillance carried out on horses, mosquitoes, sedentary and wild birds confirms, as in the previous bulletin, the circulation of the virus in Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy and Sardinia.
THE TRANSMISSION
It is important to monitor animals as they are the reservoirs of the virus, especially mosquitoes, whose bites are the main means of transmission to humans. Fever, in fact, does not pass through contact with infected people, but can involve other mammals, such as horses, but also dogs, cats and rabbits.
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU GET THE VIRUS
In over 80% of cases, writes Ansa , the infection is asymptomatic. In the remaining 20% the symptoms are those of a pseudo-influenza syndrome and only in 0.1% of cases the viral infection can cause symptoms of meningitis or meningo-encephalitis.
HOW IT GOES IN EUROPE
As of August 3, data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (Ecdc) report that in the countries of the European Union, in addition to Italy, 23 human cases have been reported in Greece (last week there were 12), 2 in Romania and 1 in Slovakia. Another 23 cases were reported by Serbia.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/cosa-dice-aggiornamento-iss-sui-casi-di-west-nile-in-italia/ on Thu, 11 Aug 2022 13:20:10 +0000.