jueves. 28.03.2024

The Nile Fever "is not transmitted from human to human"

"There should always be transmission from bird to mosquito and from mosquito to human," explains Sergio Monge

The National Association of Environmental Health Companies (Anecpla) has called for calm in the face of the cases of West Nile Fever virus that have emerged in the Seville towns of Coria and La Puebla del Río. It has explained that "the transmission is due to the bite of the mosquito usually of the genus Culex" and that "it is not transmitted from human to human".

Anecpla's president, Sergio Monge, has detailed that the transmission of the virus "occurs through migratory birds. Mosquitoes bite and then transmit it to humans and other vertebrates, mainly horses". Therefore, he assured that "this transmission should always be from bird to mosquito and from mosquito to human".

Furthermore, Monge has highlighted that with this disease, "80% of the population does not present any type of symptomatology when infected". Thus, he insisted that "we are talking about 20% with usually mild symptoms, such as fever or muscle pain".

However, within this percentage that does present symptoms, Monge has specified that "there is a percentage around 1%, which will present serious symptoms. These can lead to encephalitis or more serious neurological diseases, which in very exceptional cases can be fatal.

NILE FEVER IN ANDALUSIA

What Anecpla wanted to clarify is that in this case of Andalusia, "we are talking about mosquitoes of the genus Culex, which are the ones we usually have in summer in our homes. "At first there has been some confusion because they have confused this outbreak with invasive mosquitoes of the genus 'Japonicus'. At the moment in Andalusia, we have no evidence that Japonicus has invaded that area", he explained.

Monge explained that the Nile fever is a disease that "is endemic in Andalusia since 2010. He said that what has happened now, "according to ongoing research, is that it has affected the climate and certain environmental conditions that have been able to encourage an exponential growth in the incidence of mosquitoes.

Anecpla believes that there is no reason why the incidence of mosquitoes should be much higher than it has been in the past. Thus, he pointed out that "control strategies for these mosquitoes are already being established to prevent the outbreak from getting any worse".

However, from the association have insisted that the best thing is "to avoid as far as possible these strategies to remedy the Nile fever. As well as establishing programmes of action over time to ensure that these outbreaks do not occur and, if they do, to minimise them to the minimum".

The Nile Fever "is not transmitted from human to human"