It's official: West Nile virus confirmed in people in Serbia as well, mosquito control measures to be taken

Photo: obp.rs, Mateja Beljan, Shutterstock

A woman (46) from Nabrdje has been hospitalized in the General Hospital in Pozarevac with West Nile virus, which is transmitted from mosquitoes to humans. She is in good general condition and confirmation of the presence of the virus from a second sample taken from the same person is awaited, the website of the City of Pozarevac said.

Recommended

For this reason, and based on information about the presence of the virus in mosquitoes in the area of Nabrdje, the Emergency Situations Headquarters of the City of Pozarevac has decided to take mosquito control measures in the territory of the city.

This evening, disinsection will be carried out in the area of Nabrdje, while in the following days the same measure will be carried out in the entire territory of the City of Pozarevac.

In addition to Pozarevac, there are also infected mosquitoes in Pancevo and Belgrade.

Mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus were registered as early as June.

As we were told yesterday from the Institute of Public Health in Pancevo, they were informed by the Institute for Biocides and Medical Ecology on June 21 that there are infected mosquitoes in four locations in that city.

West Nile virus is transmitted to humans by the domestic Culex pipiens mosquito. In 2020, for the first time in eight years, not a single case of the diseases caused by the virus was recorded among people in Serbia, even though infected mosquitoes were present in 11 cities, and even though this disease was confirmed in 308 people in Europe. However, this did not happen last year, in 2021, when there were infections.

West Nile virus infections were officially registered for the first time among citizens in Serbia at the end of July 2012. From 2012 to 2019, there have been a total of 1,016 cases and 98 deaths in our country, according to the official data of the Batut Institute.

(Telegraf.rs)