Five persons died from the West Nile fever in Serbia, while 70 persons got infected with this disease. The number of affected people is increasing every day. There have been no registered cases of this virus in BiH in the last month, as confirmed by the Public Health Institute of the FBiH and the Public Health Institute of the RS.
In the Public Health Institute of the FBiH noted that there were no cases reported since the beginning of this year.
“A total of three cases have been reported in the past five years, i.e. two cases in the year of 2013 and one case in 2014,” as noted from this institution.
The main prevention for this disease is spraying of mosquitoes, which is done only in certain parts of Posavina and Tuzla Canton, Trebinje, Banje Luka and Bijeljina. Other types of prevention, just like in other types of mosquitoes, are the use of mosquito repellants, shorter stay in places where there is a lot of them, wearing bright and comfortable clothes, and the use of mosquito nets on the windows.
The West Nile virus is spread by the bite of mosquitoes and it cannot be spread through contact with other people. The illness mainly occurs during the summer season, during the period of high temperature and high humidity.
Most of the people (80 %) infected by the West Nile virus have no symptoms or signs of illness at all. A lower percentage of infected persons (around 20 %) have symptoms similar to flu, with sudden increase in body temperature, headache, pain in muscles and joints, mild rash and lymphadenopathy.
A total of 56 cases of the West Nile fever were recorded in the EU since the beginning of this year until July 26, 2018, i.e. Greece (22 cases), Italy (24), Romania (5) and Hungary (5).
(Source: M. N./Klix.ba)
