Lower levels circulation of the virus West Nile this year, from mid-May until today, as they are recorded in thriving mosquitoes and indicator animals, resulting from the first major collection and analysis of data in Greece for 2023, carried out by the company “Eco-Development SA” at the same time as the mosquito control projects in different regions of the country.

According to a company announcement, “in terms of nuisance, mosquito populations, despite all the rainfall of the past interval, are moving without ups and downs and close to the average of the last five years.”

At the same time, on the occasion of the concern of experts from the ECDC and the World Health Organization for the possible escalation of epidemiological risk phenomena transmitted by mosquitoes in Europe for this summer, the company reports that with regard to the West Nile virus, in 2022 1133 human cases were reported and 92 deaths in the European Union and this was the highest number of cases since the year 2018. In addition, 2022 saw 71 cases of dengue fever, mainly in France, about the same number that had occurred throughout 2010-2021 across Europe .

The company’s president Spyros Mourelatos, speaking recently at the 3rd Ecodevelopment Webinar on “Sharing and exploiting geospatial data”, stated that “so far there are no reasons for particular concern regarding the risk index related to diseases transmitted by mosquitoes and especially the West Nile virus which has been endemic in the territory since 2010”.

More specifically, in the Central Macedonia Region for the period 16/05 to 25/06, in 2023 a positivity of 1.6% was recorded from a total number of 182 samples of thriving mosquitoes, against a positivity of 4% from a number of 299 samples for 2022. Accordingly, in domestic chickens under 6 months of age in 2023, 2% seropositivity was recorded in 45 settlements, compared to 11% seropositivity in 53 settlements for 2022. This difference is important because it suggests a lower intensity of transmission of West Nile virus to humans for the months July-September and this correlation is extracted from epidemiological data collected systematically since 2010.