Three new victims of West Nile Virus brings total in Italy to 13

 ROME - There are now 13 victims in Italy in 2025 of West Nile, the virus transmitted by infected mosquito bites. The death toll has risen due to the three victims recorded on Monday alone: two in Caserta and one in Lazio.

  A 77-year-old man who tested positive for the virus died at the Santa Maria Goretti hospital in Latina, the fifth victim in Lazio. The man had been hospitalised in serious condition since 17 July and suffered from pre-existing chronic conditions. Two other men have died in the last few hours in the Caserta area (seven victims of the virus in total in the province): a 79-year-old man from Teverola, who died at the hospital in Frattamaggiore after being transferred from the hospital in Aversa, and a 71-year-old man from Casal di Principe, who died in the intensive care unit in Aversa.

  Both are believed to have contracted the virus on the Domitian coast, in the municipality of Mondragone, where a high number of cases have been recorded, involving the neighbouring areas of Baia Domizia and Cellole. The Caserta Local Health Authority will intensify targeted disinfection measures.

  The most affected areas remain Lazio and Campania, where the alert remains high and where all the measures provided for in the National Plan for the Prevention, Surveillance and Response to Arboviruses (diseases contracted through the bite of arthropod vectors) have been adopted, starting with the disinfestation of the affected areas.

 Experts do not, however, consider the situation to be alarming: the mortality rate of the virus is very low, equal to one in a thousand, and the greatest risk concerns the most vulnerable individuals, those with medical conditions or who are immunocompromised.

  The Lazio Region has nevertheless taken action to combat the spread of the virus: Governor Francesco Rocca has announced the allocation of one million euros for pest control in municipalities that have not already taken action. “There is no cause for alarm, as I have already said, it is not Covid,” the president of the region emphasised.

  According to the latest bulletin from the National Institute of Health on July 31, there are 89 confirmed cases of West Nile infection. On Tuesday, the Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci, is set to report on the spread of the virus in Italy to the Senate Social Affairs Committee. The Democratic Party requested a briefing from the minister a few days ago during the conference of group leaders at Palazzo Madama.

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