There is no risk of an epidemic of West Nile fever breaking out in our country, since the infection is not transmitted from person to person. Prof. Iva Hristova, director of the National Center for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, stated this in an interview for BNT.
She specified that West Nile fever as a disease causes more problems for our southern neighbors than Greece, noting that half of the cases of infection in Europe come from there.
Complications from West Nile fever are less than one percent. It concerns elderly people over 65 years of age and patients with concomitant diseases in which the immune system is suppressed. The risk lies with them, commented Prof. Hristova and added that most people will get through it without symptoms or possibly with a flu-like illness.
She reassured once again that in Bulgaria West Nile fever is not such a common disease and there were even years when not a single case was registered. She recalled that the greatest peak of the disease in our country was in 2018, when 15 positive samples of West Nile fever were detected.