The West Nile Virus has been detected in two individuals in Seville, Spain, and Modena, Italy, leading to a warning from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
Cases of the virus have been detected in Spain(Getty Images)
Holidaymakers heading to Spain and Italy have been put on alert as a potentially deadly virus sees a surge in cases.
The West Nile Virus has infected an individual in Seville, Spain, while another case has emerged in Modena, Italy. The mosquito-borne virus can cause severe symptoms in one out of every five infected individuals, leading to fever, body aches, rashes, and vomiting.
In extreme cases, patients may suffer from seizures, muscle weakness, and even paralysis. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has raised the alarm, confirming that these incidents were locally acquired rather than imported from tropical regions.
The virus has been detected in mosquitoes within Italy’s Chieti province. Worryingly, the Zika virus has also been identified in mosquitoes across 26 European nations, including popular holiday hotspots Majorca and Menorca, where visitors are being warned about the striped Tiger Mosquitoes known to carry the disease.
The ECDC has issued stark warnings about the escalating severity of mosquito-borne disease outbreaks across Europe, with dengue and chikungunya viruses also on the rise.
Have you been affected by the West Nile Virus? Email webtravel@reachplc.com
The West Nile Virus has been detected in two individuals in Seville, Spain, and Modena, Italy((Image: Getty))
The Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Andrea Ammon, warned: “Europe is already seeing how climate change is creating more favourable conditions for invasive mosquitoes to spread into previously unaffected areas and infect more people with diseases such as dengue. Increased international travel from dengue-endemic countries will also increase the risk of imported cases, and inevitably also the risk of local outbreaks.”
In recent times, the ECDC has reported 713 locally acquired cases of West Nile virus across nine different European countries – a shocking figure that resulted in the tragic loss of 67 lives and saw the virus creeping into 22 fresh regions previously untouched by it.
Last year’s main hotspots for the deadly virus were Italy, Greece, Romania, Hungary, and Spain.
For individuals over 50, or those battling underlying health conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, and cancer, the West Nile virus represents a significant health threat. The virus can result in severe complications that necessitate hospitalisation, including conditions like meningitis and encephalitis.
According to the American Centre of Disease Control, “most people infected with West Nile virus do not feel sick. About 1 in 5 people who are infected develop a fever and other symptoms. About 1 out of 150 infected people develop a serious, sometimes fatal, illness. Reduce your risk of West Nile by preventing mosquito bites.”
There have been previous cases of the virus in Europe in recent years.
During the 2023 West Nile virus transmission season, 709 locally acquired human cases of West Nile virus infection – including 67 deaths – were reported by nine European Union countries. The reported case count was lower than that of 2022, but the number of affected regions is the highest since the peak in 2018 – suggesting a wide geographical circulation of the virus.
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Source link : https://www.mirror.co.uk/travel/europe/breaking-travel-warning-issued-spain-33166416.amp
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Publish date : 2024-07-04 04:51:00
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