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West Nile Virus suspected in three patients in Serbia, one dead

Xinhua, August 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

Three persons are suspected to have been newly infected with West Nile Virus in Serbia with one person dead, national health institute stated in a press release on Monday.

The Institute of Public Health of Serbia said the suspiciously infected people come from the vicinity of the capital Belgrade in the regions of Southern Banat and Macva, where the virus, transmitted to humans by mosquitoes, was isolated by researchers in early June.

Among the three, an 81-old-man died as a result of the infection.

The institute continued that the infection among the three people is yet to be confirmed, as the only confident way to determine the presence of the virus is to test patients' cerebrospinal fluid for the presence of matching antibodies.

Fever, headache, sore throat, back pain, muscle pain, joint pain, fatigue, mild transient rash and lymphadenopathy are common symptoms of the illness while in a small percent of patients, the disease can lead to occurrence of aseptic meningitis or encephalitis.

According to the press release, West Nile Virus in Serbia causes deadly symptoms among only a small number of population (0.2 percent younger than 65, and 2 percent older than 65 years of age).

Having in mind that carriers of the disease are mosquitoes, the virus is active in August and September.

First cases of West Nile Virus in Serbia were recorded in 2012 and so far 480 of patients with symptoms of the illness were received to the hospital, of whom 326 are treated as confirmed cases of the virus infection in accordance to the Methodological instructions for supervision of West Nile fever in the human population in Serbia.

A total of 56 deaths have been connected to the West Nile Virus since it was first noticed in Serbia. Enditem