The alert for the West Nile virus. This Monday, the number of deaths due to this infectious disease rose to five in the province of Seville, after two new deaths. In addition, the Ministry of Health of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia has identified ten more new cases of this disease in the past week.
He The number of cases in 2024 (17) is already practically identical to that of the whole of 2023in a year in which the arrival of the virus occurred earlier than expected, since the usual thing is that the first cases in humans usually appear during the second or third week of August.
THE West Nile virus cases surge What has been recorded in recent weeks, especially in the province of Seville, has forced us to broaden the spectrum of research of transmitting mosquitoes to clarify where infections have occurred through new traps at specific points.
This Monday it was confirmed andthe death of two people directly linked to the West Nile virus, both originating from the Sevillian town of Coria del Río.
THE ten new cases There are two people from Dos Hermanas, four from Coria del Río, two from Los Palacios and Villafranca, one from Gerena and another from Carmona, as the Commission reports in a press release.
On the other hand, it was detectedin the presence of the virus in the catches made in the Seville municipalities of Almensilla, Los Palacios and Villafranca, Utrera and Villamanrique de la Condesa (Seville); in the Cordoban municipalities of Montalbán and Puente Genil; as well as in Benalup Casas Viejas and Vejer de la Frontera, in Cádiz.
Likewise, following the integration of surveillance, the Ministry of Health communicates that the Doñana Biological Station of the CSIC has also located the presence of the West Nile virus in mosquitoes captured in the Sevillian municipalities of La Puebla del Río, Coria del Río and Rio Palomares.
In turn, the presence of the West Nile virus was detected in a horse in Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz) and another in Écija (Seville); and in an imperial eagle chick in La Carolina (Jaén).
The weekly report from Public Health concludes that population densities of females of the species of potentially mosquito transmitters They are found at high levels (Grade IV and III) in Vejer de la Frontera (Cádiz) and Los Palacios and Villafranca (Seville) and at medium levels (Grade II) in Almensilla, Bollullos de la Mitación, Las Cabezas de San Juan, Gelves and Villamanrique de la Condesa (Seville), Barbate and Benalup Casas Viejas (Cádiz).
The Council stresses the need for the population to maintain the preventive measures to avoid mosquito bites during the hours of greatest activity of the species that transmit this disease (in the hours close to dawn and after dusk), both individually – use of approved repellents for topical use and light clothing that covers most of the skin -, as well as domestic – use of mosquito nets or environmental repellents -.
In these recommendations Accumulations of peridomestic water (gardens, pots, tools, etc.) should be avoided to prevent them from being used for the development of mosquito larvae.
