West Nile virus has been detected in the autonomous region, which borders the Portuguese regions of Alentejo and Algarve.
The General Directorate of Public Health and Pharmaceutical Organization of Andalusia warned this Saturday that it has detected the circulation of West Nile virus (FNO) in three municipalities of Seville, calling for public health measures.
The detection in the autonomous region, which borders the Portuguese regions of Alentejo and Algarve, was made through RT-PCR in samples of mosquitoes captured in the municipalities of Guillena, El Castillo de Las Guardas and La Puebla del Río, says the regional health authority, in a statement released today on its website.
In the document, the authorities called on municipalities “to adopt public health measures included in their municipal plans for the surveillance and control of these mosquitoes in the area and communication to the population of the area to achieve greater adherence to preventive measures”.
The communications are foreseen by the West Nile Fever Comprehensive Vector Surveillance and Control Program, established in 2021 with the aim of taking preventive measures when a higher density of transmitting mosquitoes and the presence of the virus in them is detected.
The detection occurred in the trap network set up by the Doñana Biological Station and composed of seven collection stations in the province of Seville.
West Nile virus outbreaks in Portugal
The Directorate-General for Food and Veterinary (DGAV) states that West Nile fever is a disease caused by a flavivirus, the West Nile virus.
“Wild birds are primary hosts of FNO, keeping the virus circulating through the mosquito-wild bird-mosquito transmission cycle, while equines and humans are final hosts of the virus, the disease being transmitted through the bite of infected mosquitoes”, explains the DGAV.
Outbreaks of the disease have occurred in Portugal since 2015. In that year eight outbreaks were detected, in 2016 six and in 2017 three, in the regions of Lisbon and Tagus Valley, Alentejo and Algarve.
In 2022, there were three outbreaks of West Nile fever in Portugal: Alcácer do Sal, Portalegre and Castro Verde.
