Italy has recorded 275 confirmed cases of the Western Nile virus, including 19 deaths, since the start of the current year, according to the Higher Institute of Health (ISS).
A previous assessment of the Italian organization reported, last week, 173 cases, including 11 deaths.
Among the confirmed cases, 126 manifested themselves in neuro-invasive form in the regions of Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto, Frioul-Vénétie Julienne, Émilie-Romagne, Latium, Campania, Basilicate, Calabria, and Sardinia, while 20 asymptomatic cases were identified in blood donors, 125 cases of fever, two asymptomatic cases and two other cases Symptomatic.
Deaths have been reported in the Latium, Campania, Piedmont, Lombardy, and Calabria regions, said the ISS, noting that the lethality rate, calculated for the neuro-invasive forms reported and confirmed so far, is 15.1%, against 14% in 2024.
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“The propagation of cases, which has so far mainly affected Latium and Campania, extends in the endemic areas of the regions of northern Italy, where we record human cases each year,” explained the experts in the Department of Infectious Diseases, relating to the ISS
“We also record some sporadic cases in the southern regions”, they noted, adding that “the peak of Western Nile virus cases in humans generally occurs in August, as data from previous years show, although it is difficult to predict the trend in the number of infections, which may depend on many factors, especially environmental and climatic”.
While dengue is transmitted mainly by the Asian tiger mosquito, the Western Nile virus can spread by the common mosquito (Culex Pipiens), present throughout Europe.
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