Mosquito-borne West Nile Fever case detected in southern Spain

MADRID, Aug 20 (NNN-Xinhua) — An unidentified person from southern Spain has been admitted to hospital with a brain disease caused by the mosquito-borne West Nile virus, said local health authorities.

The person, from the small town of Coria del Rio close to Seville, capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia, was diagnosed with meningoencephalitis.

It is the first case of the mosquito-borne virus that has been detected in the region in 2021, after seven people lost their lives in an outbreak in the provinces of Seville and Cadiz in 2020.

The West Nile Virus is transmitted by bites of culex mosquito, which is widespread in the wetlands surrounding the Guardaquivir River that flows through the middle of Seville.

According to Andalusian health authorities, the Andalusian Epidemiological Surveillance System have been informed of the case and protocols and public health measures have been activated.

The outbreak of West Nile virus in 2020 led to the creation of a regional working group, which subsequently established an Integrated Vector Surveillance and Control Program for West Nile Fever, defining risky areas that could suffer from such virus.

According to the program, any municipality with a certain level of risk needs to have a municipal plan in place to control and monitor mosquitos, and increase testing of horses which are also prone to suffer from the virus.

While affected towns also carried out campaigns to control mosquito-affected populations, residents in high-risk areas are also advised to remain indoors between dusk to dawn, place mosquito nets on their windows and leave no skin areas exposed — not easy in a part of Spain where temperatures can reach over 40 degrees centigrade at this time of year. — NNN-XINHUA