After a first case a few weeks ago, two other patients in Germany have been diagnosed with a West Nile virus infection. Affected were two women ill in late summer in Berlin and Wittenberg (Saxony-Anhalt), said Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit from the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) in Hamburg. In the vicinity of the first infected person from the Leipzig region, there are also other suspected cases, including in younger patients.
At the end of September, the BNITM and other institutes had announced that for the first time in Germany a transmission of the West Nile virus by mosquitoes to a human was confirmed. The 70-year-old from the surrounding area of Leipzig was ill in mid-August on a brain infection, now he has recovered.
Previously, the pathogen in Germany - except for a case in which a veterinarian in Bavaria had been infected in the study of a bird - has been detected only in rare cases with tourists.
"Far more people in Germany than previously thought"
The large number of serious illnesses is terrifying, said Schmidt-Chanasit. Only about one percent of infections resulted in serious illness affecting the nervous system. Therefore, it can be assumed that hundreds more people have been infected without the disease was detected, the expert said. "The West Nile virus apparently affects far more people in Germany than previously thought."
The pathogen is native to Africa but has already reached several southern European countries with the help of migratory birds. In Germany it can be transmitted by native mosquitoes of the genus Culex.
The infection runs in about 80 percent of the infected without discomfort. About 20 percent show mild illness symptoms such as fever, rash and flu-like symptoms, this is called West Nile fever. In less than one percent of all affected people - usually in older people with pre-existing conditions - it leads to meningitis (meningitis) or less often to an inflammation of the brain (encephalitis), which can be fatal.
Zika diseases in Europe for the first time
Other tropical pathogens are spreading north. Zika mosquito transmissions were detected in Europe for the first time this summer, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention at Control. The two people concerned from the southern French department of Var had developed typical complaints in August, although neither they nor their sexual partners had traveled to a Zika area. Tests confirmed the infections, both are well again.
Among other things, Zika is transmitted by the Asian tiger mosquito, which has spread in southern Europe in recent years (read more here). In most cases, an infection is inconspicuous, the possible complaints include fever, headache and redness. However, if women become infected at an early stage of pregnancy, their children may develop brain and skull malformations. In a Zika epidemic in Brazil, thousands of malformed babies were born.
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In Germany, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) estimates the risk of infection for Zika as very low. For this to happen, several very unlikely conditions would have to coincide, says Klaus Stark, expert on tropical infections:
"An infected traveler who only has the virus in his blood for a few days anyway would have to come across an Asian tiger mosquito after his return to Germany," says Stark. However, this species of mosquito does not occur here - apart from some regions of Southern Germany. "Other mosquito species in Germany can not be transmitters." In addition, it must be relatively hot for a transfer. "Most of the time it's about temperatures that are seldom reached in summer, but in southern France already."
The French authorities also reported on Wednesday seven dengue infections that have occurred since 1 August in the southern French department of Alpes-Martimes. Two other cases were reported in Rhône County. Dengue fever has spread dramatically worldwide over the past few decades. Occasionally there have been infections in other European countries besides France.
