FLASH
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The head of infectious diseases at the Institute of Public Health, Silva Bino, clarified in a statement to the media the situation created by the "West Nile Fever" virus in Albania.
Bino has informed that 84% of the tests by PIH for this virus were carried out in the month of July and 17 affected and three victims were confirmed in our country.
According to her, the age groups that can experience the disease more severely are those over 60 years old, in particular people who may have concomitant diseases such as diabetes.
"As far as the cases of 'West Nile Fever' are concerned, they reappear in Albania this year. We had an outbreak of them in 2012 and then several cases in 2017 and 2018, but this year we have 17 confirmed cases. One of these cases has been confirmed in Greece, of a resident of Lushnje. And we have 19 possible cases. These are cases that have not only clinical signs, but also epidemiological links and a serological laboratory examination. Confirmed cases have been confirmed through the molecular method or duplicate sera. A number of tests were carried out, 84% of the tests for 2024 were carried out during the month of July. So we had 64 suspected cases, we are working in this direction. Unfortunately, we also have three confirmed 'Nile Fever' deaths. In general, it is a disease that passes easily to young people up to the age of 50-60 years. After the age of 60 or in people who have immune damage, diabetes or alcoholics, especially people with cancer, they can show forms affecting the central nervous system, which are encephalitis, meningitis, flaccid paralysis. These are severe forms that often cause death. Bino said.
Explaining the origin of the virus and the way it is transmitted, Bino also specified the cities where the highest number of affected people in the country was recorded.
" West Nile fever is a zoonotic disease, that is, it circulates mainly in birds and mainly affects horses in the central nervous system. But in our country we do not have a monitoring of horses for "West Nile Fever". As for the areas where we have most of them, we have Lushnja, Fier, Kurbin and Berat (the part near Lushnja, some cases in Lezhë and Shkodër. There were no affected areas in the coastal areas," said the head of ISHP.
Regarding the measures that have been taken, Bino said that the tests by the PIH will continue, but he advised citizens to be careful as the symptoms can be confused with those of a seasonal flu.
" The measures taken are related to the entomological investigation to see the type of mosquito, because it is a disease that circulates in animals where there is high viremia and is then acquired by kulex mosquitoes during the bite. These mosquitoes transmit it from birds to humans, but not from human to human. It can often be confused with a virus, but is accompanied by a fever or severe muscle pain, severe headache or skin marks."
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