Italy warns of the outbreak of a deadly virus in Europe and demands a plan to combat it

A member of the European Parliament from Italy, Giannantonio Da Re, warned of the outbreak of the deadly "West Nile virus" in European Union countries, calling on the European Commission to reveal its plan to prevent the spread of this virus.

In his letter to the European Commission, Da Ri revealed the statistics of the latest report of the European Food Safety Authority, which show the death rate of infection with the virus and hospital admissions are significantly high.

He said: "There are 92 deaths from the virus, and about 87% of the total infected people had to be hospitalized to receive treatment."

The member of the European Parliament asked about Italy: “Can the European Commission answer the following questions: “Is it aware of the rapid spread of the West Nile virus in Europe? And how does it intend to combat its spread?”

Da Re confirmed that the West Nile virus was proven to be transmitted in Europe by  mosquitoes , and in 2022, Europe recorded one of the highest infection seasons ever, with the number reaching 1,133 cases, about 7 times more than it was in the year before 2021.

"West Nile fever" is a disease transmitted by mosquitoes mainly in tropical and subtropical regions, but recently more cases have been reported in non-tropical regions of the world.