Warning as potentially deadly virus causing seizures found in holiday hotspots

Brits planning a holiday abroad this summer have been warned about a potentially deadly virus after two cases were reported in Spain and Italy.

One person in Seville and another in Modena were infected with the West Nile virus, a mosquito-borne virus that shows no symptoms in the majority people. However, approximately 20% develop it and can leave people with body aches, vomiting and skin rashes.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says one in 150 people infected with the virus could also develop severe neurological disease, triggering muscle weakness, seizures and paralysis. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) noted the two recent locally acquired cases of the virus, which is spread via bites from infected mosquitoes.

The first case, in Seville, reported the sufferer experiencing symptoms at the beginning of March. “Although an isolated case, it highlights that the transmission of West Nile virus can occur very early in the year, likely due to suitable climatic conditions,” said the ECDC.

While the next case in Modena was confirmed by Italy as its first West Nile virus infection of 2024 in an official report published on June 27. The case was locally acquired, meaning the individual was infected in Italy and wasn’t bitten by a mosquito with the virus abroad.

Earlier this year a case of West Nile virus infection was reported in Lombardy, with the patient having contracted the illness in Oman, and the same virus was also found in mosquitoes in the Chieti province in June, although no human cases were reported there. This comes after mosquitoes carrying the deadly Zika virus were discovered in 26 European countries.

Brit holidaymakers heading to Majorca and Menorca were issued warnings about tiger mosquitoes carrying lethal diseases after they were spotted in these vacation hotspots. The ECDC warned last month that Europe is experiencing worsening outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases, such as West Nile, dengue, chikungunya, and Zika viruses.

Andrea Ammon, ECDC Director, said: “Europe is already seeing how climate change is creating more favourable conditions for invasive mosquitoes to spread into previously unaffected areas and infect more people with diseases such as dengue. Increased international travel from dengue-endemic countries will also increase the risk of imported cases, and inevitably also the risk of local outbreaks.”

Last year a total of 713 locally acquired human cases of the West Nile virus were detected in 123 different regions of nine EU countries, according to the ECDC. While 22 of these regions were reported as places of infection for the first time in 2023 – 67 deaths were also reported. However, 2023’s case count was lower than the previous year, which saw 1,133 infections reported.

The ECDC noted that “the number of affected regions is the highest since the peak in 2018, indicating a wide geographical circulation of the virus”. The agency published data in February indicating that most cases in 2023 were located in the holiday hotspots of Italy followed by Greece, Romania, Hungary and Spain.

Most people who catch the virus will recover without treatment but in rare cases, they may develop severe illness or even die from the infection. Some will experience flu-like symptoms, for example a fever, body aches and a headache as well as a rash and nausea. Others could end up with muscle weakness, confusion, vision loss, numbness, neck stiffness, diarrhoea and seizures. Treatment normally involves rest, staying hydrated and over-the-counter pain relief.