Disappeared since 1995, is the West Nile virus making a comeback? The question arises after a case has been detected in Nice. L’PACA regional health agency (ARS) reports that a person carrying the West Nile virus was diagnosed on October 20 in the Alpes-Maritimes department in Nice. While this is the first human case recorded in France for 12 years, the virus has nevertheless been reported in other European countries, a sign of the circulation of the West-Nile virus (also called West Nile virus) . According to the European Center for Disease and Control, between September 28 and October 5, 2017, several human cases were reported in Europe: 9 in Romania, 4 in Italy, 2 in Hungary and 1 in Greece.
The patient from Nice is now cured and in good health, so vigilance is required. The regional health agency calls on the inhabitants of Alpes-Maritimes to protect themselves against mosquito bites, some of which (mainly of the Culex genus) can be vectors of this disease. To protect yourself, the remedies are diverse: installation of electric diffusers in homes, insecticide coils only outdoors and use of a skin repellent, recommended by the pharmacist, on exposed skin areas.
In addition to these preventive measures, the search for other possible cases of West Nile virus is being carried out in health establishments in the Alpes-Maritimes with an emergency reception service and the Nice University Hospital laboratory.
Focus on West Nile virus
Little known to the general public, West Nile fever is a viral disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes in contact with infected birds. Both humans and horses are “accidental hosts”, but they cannot transmit the virus, unlike the yellow fever, dengue or zikafor example, specifies the ARS Paca in a press release.
This zoonosisis relatively difficult to spot because it does not manifest itself by any specific symptoms apart from a flu-like syndrome (fever, pain, headache). In exceptional cases it can cause neurological complications.
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