West Nile virus has killed dozens of people this summer in several European countries where it is endemic. The EU is funding vaccine research in Barcelona.
In La Puebla del Rio south of Seville in Spain, euronews met Antonio Pineda whose mother was healthy until this summer. Then one day she was bitten by a mosquito. She was hospitalized and died ten days later. She had contracted the West Nile virus.
“Severe headaches, with vomiting, he started to ramble… to say things that were not coherent. Every day that passed, it was more complicated because the symptoms multiplied,” he explains.
Of the seven deaths linked to the West Nile virus that occurred in Andalusiamany took place near the Guadalquivir Riverin cities like La Puebla del Río.
Fortunately, the disease is only fatal in 1% of cases. Jordi Figuerola He knows this well, having studied for years the relationship between the virus and the mosquito at the CSIC, the “Higher Council for Scientific Research” in Spain.
“In 80% of cases, a West Nile virus bite is asymptomatic. Despite this, a small number of serious infections occur in young people with no previous health problems, and we still do not know why in some people the disease presents almost asymptomatically while in others it leads to more severe cases.” he explains.
A virus on the rise
Today, West Nile virus is endemic in several European countries and its distribution area is constantly expanding.
Its activity is particularly noted in southern European countries such as Greece, Italy, and of course Spain. Three countries where it has already claimed dozens of victims.
La Puebla del Rio, where until now the mosquito was just an annoying visitor that arrived with the heat every summer, has now become a plague and a real threat to any inhabitant.
“Here in the village, at half past eight, we are home, with repellent, sockets in the house, other traps… in short, this is our daily life.“, laments one resident.
The residents of La Puebla del Rio have therefore created their own platform and are demanding stricter measures against the virus from the authorities and, above all, a vaccine.
Spanish lab working on vaccine
The research is taking place in a laboratory in Barcelona under the direction of Jorge Carillo. The lab benefits from a financing of more than five million euros from the European Union.
“What we’re aiming for with the vaccine is that it’s highly effective in preventing the development of the disease, but also in preventing infection. We want a vaccine that covers the diversity of the virus, because this is a virus that circulates around the world and nine distinct lineages of this virus have also been isolated. And importantly, we want it to be effective in people who are at higher risk of developing severe disease. We’re talking about older people and people whose immune systems are somewhat compromised..” explains Jorge Carillo
If all goes well, the development of a vaccine capable of fighting all variants of the West Nile virus could take between 3 and 8 years.