In the Oristano area, in Sardinia, the ASL has ascertained the first human case of West Nile (Nile fever) this season, after those of last summer. In recent weeks the virus has been circulating among mosquitoes and crows and the area is in a state of alert.
Hospitalized a man
A 72-year-old man from Siamanna was hospitalized in the San Martino hospital in Oristano and then transferred to the infectious disease department of the Sassari hospital. “The situation is under control,” he assures Maria Valentina Marasdirector of the Hygiene and Public Health Service of the ASL 5. “The conditions of the seventy-two year old from Siamanna are mediocre and he is constantly monitored by the entire team of the Sassari hospital ward”.
In Oristano, after hospitalization, the diagnosis was immediately that of Nile Fever, later confirmed by the tests carried out in the laboratory of the University Hospital of Cagliari.
In July, a group of mosquitoes captured by a trap in Torregrande, a seaside village of Oristano, and two crows, shot down by a hunter in the same spot in the Solarussa area, tested positive for the Nile Fever virus. Last year eight cases of human contagion from West Nile were diagnosed in the Oristano area; four patients died.
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He virus
West Nile virus, transmissible from infected birds to humans or other animals through mosquito bites, is not symptomatic in 80% of cases. In 20% it causes flu-like symptoms (fever, headache, nausea and vomiting) and in less than 1% it causes encephalitis or meningoencephalitis.
Symptoms
“It is important that the elderly and frail in particular protect themselves by adopting a series of precautions”, recommends Marras. “First of all, it is necessary to avoid stagnant water, where mosquito larvae proliferate. For this reason it is necessary to frequently empty flower pot saucers, buckets, tires, barrels; change the water in animal bowls often; keep the swimming pools children empty or cover them when not in use; treat manholes and rainwater drainage wells, drainage and stagnation areas with larvicidal products; check that the gutters are clean and unobstructed; cover the cisterns and containers where rainwater is collected with airtight lids, sheets or mosquito nets.To protect yourself from stings, it is also recommended to shield doors and windows with mosquito nets, use skin repellents to keep insects away, avoid staying in areas where there are artificial lakes and stagnant water, such as gardens and parks, particularly at dusk and at night, when mosquitoes are most active.”
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The Management and the Prevention Department of the ASL 5 have launched a widespread awareness of the population, involving family doctors, paediatricians of free choice, polyclinics and social-welfare communities, so that citizens are informed on the precautions to be taken to defend themselves from mosquito bites through the dissemination of informative material on the virus. Information material on Nile fever and on the correct behaviors to be implemented to prevent contagion is available on the old site of the Oristano Asl 5 at the address www.asloristano.it.