Great -Britain was startled today by fear of an outbreak of a murderous disease spread by mosquitoes who can leave people who suffer from paralysis or coma’s.
Health officials said they had detected for the first time in the West Virus, which is usually limited to Africa, the Central East and South Asia, in British insects.
There are no cases of the disease that has ever been detected locally in the UK, but seven cases associated cases have occurred since 2000.
Western Nile virus is usually found in birds and usually circulates by bird biting mosquitoes.
In rare cases, however, it is known that mosquitoes transfer the virus to people.
The bosses of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) emphasized today that the general risk for the public is ‘very low’ and the virus ‘is not easily spreading between people’.
However, they added that the activities of mosquitoes and control activities are ‘improved’ in the aftermath of the findings.
Officials detected the virus in monsters of Aedes Vexans -Mosques, a native British species, of Wetlands on the river inactive near the village of Gamston in Nottinghamshire.
Health officials said they had detected West Nile virus in Mosquitoes for the first time in Great Britain in Britain
The positive result, found in two individual mosquitoes tested in 2023, is the first time that the disease has been detected in an insect in Britain and generate the possibility that it could spread to the public.
About one in five people who are infected with the West -Nijl virus develop symptoms, such as fever, headache and a fleshy rash that covers the trunk, head, neck, fingers and toes.
These can last a few days to a few weeks, where patients are treated with liquids, bed rest and freely available painkillers.
Of people with symptoms, less than one percent will develop a severe form of the disease – called neuro -invasive disease of West Nile (WNND) – that can be deadly.
The virus infects the brain and causes encephalitis or inflammation of the organ, which leads to epileptic seizures, disorientation and coma.
About three to 15 percent of the WNND patients die from the disease, with death sometimes caused by the virus that infects and closes those instructions for the body to breathe.
Young children, adults older than 50 years and those with a weaker immune system run the most risk of this severe form of the disease.
Dr. Meera Chand, deputy director of the UKHSA for travel health, zooses and emerging infections, said that the virus had spread the confirmation of Europe in recent years that it was now present in Great Britain, not so surprising.
People catch the disease of the Bites mosquitoes – shown by their black and white striped markings – who pick up the virus of birds. Shown, flavivirus, responsible for the west -thigh virus
However, they added that the risk to the public was low.
“The risk for the general public is currently being assessed as very low,” they said.
“This type of vector research is intended to give us early warning for potential threats, so that we can improve our disease kidding and control activities and ensure that patients receive appropriate tests.”
Dr. Arran Folly, Arbovirologist at the Animal and Plant Health Agency of the Government, said that the Western Nijl virus that reached the UK was a demonstration of how climate change helped pathogens to reach Great Britain.
“The detection of the Western Nile virus in the UK is part of a broader changing landscape, where in the aftermath of climate change transferred by mosquitoes, diseases are spreading to new areas,” he said.
‘Only through continuous surveillance can we assess the risk for animal and public health.
Although the disease is new in the UK, it has been present in the US for decades and is being detected for the first time in 1999.
With the virus that is now spreading among native mosquitoes, around 2,000 Americans get sick every year with West Nile virus, of which around 120 are killed.
Fabio Caruso, 40, better known as the Sicilian slammer in the ring, locked the West Nile virus, causing him to be paralyzed from the neck down
As he recovered from a kidney transplant, his immune system was suppressed and the virus quickly developed into a serious infection.
Fabio Caruso is a patient who knows too well of the West -Nijl virus.
The former professional wrestling champion, known as the Sicilian slammer in the Ring, was bitten by a mosquito that the pathogen wore in 2023.
At the time, the wrestler recovered from a kidney transplantation, so his immune system was suppressed, so that the virus could quickly spread out of hand in his body and developed into a serious infection.
Because his condition deteriorated, Mr Caruso had to be admitted to ICU after breathing failure and paralysis of the lower body prevented him from breathing alone and he had to be put on a fan to stay alive.
And due to the severity of his symptoms, the athlete experienced a high fever and memory loss for more than two months.
It was not until July last year that he was finally fired and was allowed to return to his wife and their daughter.
For protection against the Western Nile virus, civil servants advise people to wear insect repellent, as well as in the evening and early mornings with long sleeves and pants when mosquitoes are the most active.
Individuals are also advised to remove any standing water near their house, because this can be a place where mosquitoes can breed.
West Nile Virus was discovered in 1937 in Uganda.
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