Health
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After a first case of infection with the Usutu virus on October 18 and faced with the risk of implantation of viruses transmitted by mosquitoes, the health authorities of the South West are strengthening surveillance and control systems.
Several times a year, Jérémy comes to make a donation to the French blood establishment in Bordeaux. He is always questioned about his medical history, his way of life, his stays abroad. Nothing unusual so far. “At the end of October, the questionnaire varied a little. I was asked if I had left Europe in recent months: Africa, South America, Mexico… Then suddenly, Biscarrosse. I admit that I did not expect it! comments the young man, half hilarious. The question, however, is not trivial. On October 18, a case of arbovirosis – a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes – was confirmed in the Landes in a person who had not left the metropolis during the period preceding the appearance of the first symptoms. This is the first so-called “indigenous” human case in the region, confirm the health authorities.
The dengue virus, carried by the tiger mosquito, has been suspected as well as the West Nile or West-Nile virus, transmitted by the Culex mosquito, our most common local mosquitoes. Finally, after the analysis of two samples, the Regional Health Agency (ARS) Nouvelle-Aquitaine announced on Wednesday, in a press release, that it was an infection with the Usutu virus. This emerging virus, of African origin, is often not very symptomatic. He can, in