The Russian consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor announced that the number of West Nile virus infections in the Republic of Tatarstan has risen to 15.
The local health department said five people were still in hospital, while the rest had been discharged or sent for outpatient treatment.
The administration explained that during the incubation period they lived near rivers, lakes or forests in the Kazan region and in the Vysokogorsky, Laishevsky, Zelenodolsky, Verkhneoslonsky, Pestreshchensky, Apastovsky, Cheremshansky districts.
Rospotrebnadzor carried out comprehensive disinfection of mosquito larvae in water ponds with a total area of 59 hectares.
The Department of Health stated that West Nile virus is transmitted by mosquitoes and is not transmitted from person to person, so it is necessary to protect buildings from mosquitoes as much as possible and to use personal protective equipment in nature.
According to doctors, two cases of West Nile fever have been recorded among residents of the Volgograd region, three cases in the Ryazan region, and one case in the Astrakhan region of Russia.
It is worth noting that the natural foci of West Nile fever are found in more than 90 countries in Africa, America, Europe and Asia, and the infection appears mainly in countries with hot climates. However, this virus sometimes appears in Russia, and as the climate warms, the area of the disease spreads gradually increases.
“West Nile fever is a disease whose natural reservoir is wild birds. It is transmitted mainly by mosquito bites, less commonly by other blood-sucking insects. Infection can occur as follows: a mosquito bites an infected bird, then bites a human who becomes a carrier of the virus. The disease develops in 80% of infected people in a very mild form, or without any signs of infection,” explained expert Andrey Pozdyakov.