More precise rules and guidelines regarding the surveillance of West NileWest Nile disease, Usutu and other arboviruses, i.e diseases transmitted from animals to humans through insect vectors. The regional council has approved the regional surveillance plan.
“On the Tuscan territory, yes indigenous cases of West Nile virus infection have occurred over time which required the implementation of timely and coordinated public health interventions – explains the councilor for the right to health Simone Bezzini, who brought the resolution into the bargain – Hence the need to intervene with regional directives on how to manage human cases in order to ensure homogeneous and effective interventions on the territory”.
In 2022, cases of both West Nile and Usutu occurred in Tuscany. With the regional surveillance plan, which concerns the spread among humans but also among animals, the aim is to promptly identify the circulation of the virus in order to immediately adopt prevention and contrast measures.
I due virus
West Nile virus has been reported in Europe since 1958 and is considered the most widespread flavivirus in the world. The lesser known Usutu, also a flavivirus, was first observed on the continent in 1996, with a significant mortality rate among some bird species in Italy and other European countries.
The two viruses differ substantially both in the association with phenomena of high mortality of birds, frequent in the case of the Usutu and rare for the West Nile, and the impact on public health. If the West Nile is responsible for human cases with severe neurological symptoms, the ability of Usutu to induce neuroinvasive clinical forms is, to date, limited to a few sporadic reports in Emilia Romagna.
However the two viruses share similar transmission cycles. They move through mosquitoes and can pass from birds to mammals, including humans, thanks to mosquitoes that bite each other. THE mammals instead they can become infected and develop the disease, but do not transmit the virus.