First alarm bell in the region for the Nile virus. There are still no reports of infected people, against the four who were treated last year, but the controls have risen because the infection if caught in time by recognizing the symptoms is treatable, instead if too much time passes, serious problems can occur and death can occur in particular in those fragile people with other pathologies or immunosuppressed.
DONORS
The first sign that the danger is always lurking is recorded in the immunotransfusional services of the Region. Practically blood donors who go to donate every day are also required to be tested for the Nile virus. The compulsory law has been introduced a few weeks ago in the face of the cases that have occurred in Veneto and Ferrara, but Friuli Venezia Giulia is also considered an endemic area. In practice, it is possible to become infected with a mosquito bite even in the region. Until last year, the fault of Covid, donors who had frequented infected areas were stopped. They basically couldn’t donate. This year, however, also to avoid that the drop in donations in the summer can create problems (Friuli has always been self-sufficient and has also helped other regions in the summer even if last year we reached the limits) to the departments and surgery has been decided to subject all donors to the test that must be repeated every time you go to donate blood.
I SYMPTOMS
West Nile virus fever (from the English West Nile Virus) is a disease caused by a virus that in most cases presenting symptoms is responsible for an acute febrile illness with skin manifestations, in severe cases it can occur instead like encephalitis or meningitis. Symptoms, if present, are of varying severity but may include fever, headache, generalized pain, joint pain, vomiting, diarrhea, or skin rash. In rare cases, a serious, sometimes fatal infection affecting the central nervous system develops. As mentioned, immunosuppressed people are at greater risk even if it happened that serious symptoms occurred in healthy subjects.
FIREPLACE
Infected mosquitoes have also been found in the region, particularly in western Friuli, but also in the lower Friuli area. The province of Pordenone is the most exposed because it borders on the Veneto which is much more at risk than Friuli Venezia Giulia. The control plan has also been activated on the regional territory, which provides for the capture of mosquitoes in several areas of the territory and then verification through laboratory tests to understand if they are infected. It is not certain that an infected mosquito bite leads to the disease in any case, indeed, serious cases are rare, but elderly people and people with existing diseases are at greater risk. Last year there were four cases in the region, one in the province of Pordenone that affected the youngest person, a 67-year-old man, who was hospitalized for a long time at the Santa Maria degli Angeli hospital where he had entered with encephalitis. Another serious case occurred, however, in Latisana. In that case the patient, a seventy-seven year old, ended up at the Udine hospital. The last death, however, is in 2020. An 87-year-old man also died of a severe form of Nile virus encephalitis.