Fifty-one new cases of West Nile virus infection were reported in Italy from 12 to 18 September 2024, bringing the total to 382 reports that have been notified since May 2024. the deaths to 16 compared to 13 in the previous study. This is reported in the new research journal published today by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità.
Compared to the total number of 382 cases, those that presented themselves in a neuroinvasive form, i.e. with symptoms of meningitis or encephalitis, were 222 and the largest number, i.e. 131, occurred in Emilia-Romagna and 38 in Veneto; so 12 in Piedmont, 9 in Lombardy, 5 in Friuli Venezia Giulia, one Lazio, 2 Abruzzo, 11 Campania, 2 Puglia, 2 Calabria, one Sardinia.
The deaths
Among the 16 deaths reported, 3 occurred in Piedmont, one in Lombardy, 7 in Veneto, one in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, 3 in Emilia-Romagna, one in Calabria. The first indigenous human case of West Nile virus disease of the season was reported from Emilia-Romagna on June 26 in the Modena region. Two cases imported from the United States, 5 from Albania and one from Romania; 45 asymptomatic cases were identified among blood donors.
West Nile virus
West Nile fever, the ISS reminds us on the online portal, is a disease caused by the West Nile virus, isolated for the first time in 1937 in Uganda, right there the West Nile region (from which it takes its name). The sources of the virus are wild birds and mosquitoes, and their bites are the main way it is transmitted to humans, as long as it is not transmitted through human-to-human contact.
The symptoms
In most cases, symptoms are absent or mild. “The most serious symptoms occur in less than 1% of infected people (one in 150), and include high fever, headache, convulsions, up to paralysis and coma.
Some neurological effects can be permanent” and in severe cases it can cause fatal encephalitis.
2024-09-22 09:23:52
#West #Nile #ISS #cases #Italy #week #symptoms
