Khalit Khaertynov on West Nile fever: ‘There is no specific treatment’
Usually, West Nile fever is registered in the southern regions
Six cases of West Nile fever were registered in Tatarstan at the end of July. The Republican Clinical Infectious Diseases Hospital assures: the patients are not in danger. One of them was even discharged from the hospital. In general, isolated cases of West Nile fever have been registered in Russia this year. Most of them were imported.
Khalit Khaertynov, a chief visiting specialist of the Ministry of Healthcare of Tatarstan for infectious diseases and associate professor of the Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the Kazan State Medical University, told Realnoe Vremya that West Nile fever is usually registered in the southern regions: Volgograd, Astrakhan, Rostov regions. However, there are also cases among residents of Tatarstan: a case of infection was in the republic last year.
Symptoms of the disease resemble acute respiratory infections and flu
According to Khaertynov, the clinical manifestations of West Nile fever are similar to the symptoms of acute respiratory infections and influenza: fever, muscle pain. In 1% of cases, the disease leads to lesions of the nervous system, such as meningitis, encephalitis and other paralytic forms of diseases.
In most cases, patients recover. Fatal outcomes were recorded only in cases of damage to the nervous system.
There is no special treatment for West Nile fever virus. “There is no specific treatment, the treatment is symptomatic," the doctor said.
It can be transmitted from mosquitoes or waterfowl
Khaertynov named mosquitoes as carriers of fever. Waterfowl are also dangerous.
“The infection is not transmitted from person to person. The vectors are mosquitoes. A person [also] can get infected by contact with waterfowl, by swimming in enclosed bodies of water such as lakes, for example," he explained.
By the way, in Tatarstan, the West Nile fever virus was not detected in mosquitoes living in the places of residence and recreation of the sick. Specialists of the Department of Rospotrebnadzor in the republic conducted entomological examinations of the relevant territory. All reservoirs in a three-kilometre zone from the places of residence or recreation of the sick have been treated, the department added.
One can protect yourself from West Nile fever with the help of mosquito repellents. Khaertynov also warned against swimming in enclosed reservoirs where ducks or other birds swim. This increases the risk of infection.