A 73 year old woman who was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the San Pedro de Alcántara Hospital in Cáceres with symptoms compatible with West Nile Fever virus infection has died in the last few hours and thus becomes the second death from this cause in recent days in Extremadura. The first fatality was a 71-year-old man who died on October 8 at the Don Benito-Villanueva de la Serena Hospital (Badajoz).
They are not the only cases of this active virus in this autonomous community. On the Cáceres hospital floor A 71-year-old man remains hospitalized also like probable case and, likewise, she is admitted to the ICU of the University Hospital of Badajoz. a 56 year old woman that is confirmed as infected by this virus.
The results of this type of analysis are not immediate, so the Extremadura Health Service (SES) do not yet have the information of the same, has stressed the Junta de Extremadura, which awaits the definitive confirmation of the National Center for Microbiology. This disease is transmitted by the bite of a mosquito.
After becoming aware of these cases in humans, the SES activated the current protocol in the National Epidemiological Surveillance Network (Renave) and its adaptation to the Epidemiological Surveillance Network of Extremadura.
This implies the implementation of all established measures, including communication to the Blood Bank, as specified by the SES, who emphasizes that at the same time We are acting following the Extremadura Vector Preparedness and Response Planwhich includes actions for their prevention and control at different levels and areas of action and competencies, including entomological, epidemiological actions, population information and prevention.