2023-08-01 17:20:37
This Tuesday, August 1, the Regional Health Agency of Nouvelle-Aquitaine announced the “first indigenous human case of infection” with the West Nile virus in Gironde. Four other cases are “under investigation”.
Until now, human infections with the West Nile virus (West-Nile) had only been observed around the Mediterranean. However, this Tuesday, August 1, the Regional Health Agency (ARS) of New Aquitaine announced the detection of five cases. A first.
In a communiqué, the ARS specified that the “first indigenous human case of infection with the West-Nile virus” was reported to it on July 27, “in a person residing in Bordeaux (in the) Gare district”. At the same time, four other carrier cases are “under investigation” in the region but “their state of health does not inspire concern and they are in the process of recovery”.
These are the “first human cases whose infection was acquired in New Aquitaine”. According to information from theWorld Health Organization (WHO), this virus “is maintained in nature by means of a cycle involving transmission between birds and mosquitoes”.
The disease is most often transmitted to humans via the bite of these insects, which have themselves become infected by biting an infected bird. Culex mosquitoes, also called common mosquitoes, are considered the main vectors. The virus can also be transmitted by contact with an infected animal but it “is not transmitted from man to man, nor from man to mosquito”, specifies the ARS Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
80% of human infections are asymptomatic
In humans, the incubation period generally varies from 3 to 14 days and the infection is asymptomatic in 80% of cases. For the remaining 20%, the disease results in a “flu-like syndrome” which causes fever, pain, headaches and even nausea and vomiting. A rash may also appear.
A serious form of the disease exists and affects around 1 in 150 people infected, according to the WHO, or “less than 1% of cases”, supports ARS Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It “can occur at any age” but patients over 50 and / or immunocompromised are the most exposed. In such cases, the West Nile virus can cause sometimes fatal neurological damage.
There is no vaccine for humans, so the only way to reduce the number of human infections “is to educate people regarding risk factors.” This obviously involves protecting yourself from mosquito bites but also avoiding direct contact with sick animals.
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