West Nile: infectious disease experts call for 12 measures

An immediate reassessment of the response to the West Nile virus, with twelve specific measures, is being called for by the Hellenic Society of Infectious Diseases in an announcement issued on Sunday 16 August 2026. The intervention is based on the epidemiological data of EODY, the National Public Health Organisation: up to 12 August, 110 domestically acquired cases and nine deaths had been recorded, with 45 of the 110 cases recorded within a single week. Of the total number of cases, 81 presented severe manifestations of the central nervous system, while 35 patients remained in hospital, 16 of them in intensive care units. All those who died were over 65.

In its announcement the society notes: “The present picture does not allow for complacency. The transmission period of the West Nile virus has not ended and there is therefore still a significant window of time in which further transmission can be limited.” Its basic scientific position is that prevention cannot rest solely on spraying adult mosquitoes, but requires a combination of larvicide treatment, targeted adulticide treatment and environmental management of breeding sites. The society also asks the health ministry and EODY to publish on a weekly basis the number of control treatments carried out, the municipalities covered, and the mosquito samples that tested positive for the virus.

The question of hospital capacity is raised explicitly. The announcement points out that in the middle of summer many intensive care beds remain closed for disinfection, at a time when the disease leads to severe neurological manifestations requiring prolonged hospital treatment. The West Nile virus is transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected mosquito and in the great majority of cases either causes no symptoms or causes a mild febrile illness. In a small proportion of those infected, however, and mainly in the elderly or the immunosuppressed, it can develop into encephalitis or meningitis. There is no specific antiviral treatment and no vaccine for humans, which makes protection from bites and reduction of the mosquito population the only tools available.

Individual recommendations remain unchanged: use of insect repellents, screens on doors and windows, clothing that covers the body during the peak hours of mosquito activity, and the removal of standing water from yards and balconies. The health ministry had not responded publicly to the society’s intervention by Sunday evening. EODY’s weekly figures were recorded by TodayGrid in the report “EODY: 110 West Nile cases and nine deaths”, while a similar call for the measures to be strengthened had also been made by the Athens Medical Association.