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As Europe warms, Italy sees West Nile virus spread farther and longer · Best of: Features

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  Italy sees mosquitoes spread the West Nile virus farther and longer as
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  Europe warms. Written by Giada Zampano and Andrea Rosa. This article is
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  being read by an automated voice, generated by Everlet. Rome, the AP.
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  Italian health authorities see evidence that rising temperatures and longer warm seasons
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  are helping mosquitoes spread West Nile virus across a wider area during
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  more months of the year. More than six hundred and fifty infections
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  have been reported in Italy so far this year, accounting for roughly
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  half of all cases recorded in Europe, according to local health authorities.
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  Higher temperatures linked to climate change help mosquitoes reproduce and extend the
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  transmission season, increasing the chances that infected mosquitoes will spread the virus
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  to people, said Antony Nobella, researcher at Italy's National Institute of Health,
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  or ISS. West Nile has been considered endemic in Italy since twenty
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  twenty, when cases started to surge, and is now reported every summer
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  and early fall. About eighty percent of infected people develop no symptoms,
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  while most others experience a mild flu like illness. Severe neurological complications
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  occur in a small minority of cases, mainly among older adults and
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  people with underlying health conditions. Experts say this year's case numbers are
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  broadly in line with recent seasons. But warmer temperatures favor mosquito reproduction,
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  and can mean the transmission season sometimes lasts as late as November,
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  Bella explained. Areas once largely unaffected are increasingly reporting infections, reflecting
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  a gradual expansion of The
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  virus across the country. Italy's experience with the virus is drawing attention
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  from European countries located farther north. A Belgian research team visited the
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  ISS last May to study Italy's research and surveillance system after the
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  country began recording locally acquired West Nile cases. The Netherlands this year
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  has reported more than two dozen West Nile cases, the first since
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  twenty twenty, as well as several deaths, according to its Public Health
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  Institute. There's no doubt that warming weather will expand the period of
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  replication for the virus, and the vectors in more countries, said Mark
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  Elaine Widowson, who leads the pandemic threats, communicable diseases, and AMR division
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  at the World Health Organization's Europe Office. You've got to be careful
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  not to say that climate change is all of it. But certainly
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  a warming climate means that we have a longer mosquito season, so
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  that the vectors can survive for longer. Warm temperatures also mean that
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  the virus itself will survive better, he added, Experts note that Italy's
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  extensive monitoring network, which tracks mosquitoes, birds, blood donors, and human infections,
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  also helps explain why the country detects so many cases. There are
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  definitely trends which we think are contributing to increased activity, Whittlesen said,
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  citing a warming climate, loss of biodiversity, and changes in and use.
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  A longer mosquito season creates more opportunities for transmission, he added, while
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  declines in bird diversity may favor species that are efficient reservoirs of
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  the virus. In June, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control,
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  or ECDC, warned that because Europe is experiencing a warming trend, with
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  heat waves and flooding becoming more frequent and severe, and summers getting
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  longer and warmer, the conditions are more favorable for invasive mosquito species
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  such as Ades albopictus and Aedes Agypti. Aides A Gypti, known to
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  transmit deng, yellow fever, chikungunya, zika, and West Nile viruses, has been
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  established in Cyprus since twenty twenty two and may spread to other
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  European countries. A decade ago the Edith albopictus mosquito was established in
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  eight European countries, with one hundred and fourteen regions affected. This year
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  the mosquito is established in thirteen countries and three thirty seven regions,
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  the ECDC said.