Italy reports 32 cases, including 2 deaths, from West Nile virus
West Nile virus spreads mostly through the bites of infected mosquitoes, typically during the warmer summer months. Greece and Italy have also reported human cases this year.
Most of the Italian cases so far have been in the province of Latina, which is in the Lazio region about 100 kilometres south of Rome.
Italy's national health institute (ISS) flagged the cases in its weekly report Thursday, noting that "the epidemiological trend is in line with that of previous years" while the geographical distribution of the virus "appears quite different".
The virus, which causes high fever and rashes, has also been reported in Piedmont, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, and Campania. Among the confirmed cases there have so far been two deaths, one in Fondi and the other in the province of Novara.
"The West Nile virus has been endemic in our country for several years now," said Anna Teresa Palamara, director of the ISS's infectious diseases department, adding that measures are in place to protect against its spread.
"Let us remember that 80 per cent of West Nile infection cases are asymptomatic and the risk of serious consequences is greater for the most fragile people," Palamara said.
The Lazio region confirmed 12 new cases of the virus on Thursday, following tests carried out by Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases, an infectious disease hospital in Rome.
According to the ISS, West Nile fever comes from the Flaviviridae family of viruses that were first isolated in 1937 in Uganda's West Nile district.
The reservoirs of the virus are wild birds and mosquitoes, most frequently of the Culex type, whose bites are the main form of spread to people as there is no risk of person-to-person contagion.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
2 days ago
- Euronews
Italy reports 32 cases, including 2 deaths, from West Nile virus
Italy has confirmed two deaths and at least 32 cases of West Nile virus in 2025, amid an uptick in southern Europe this summer. West Nile virus spreads mostly through the bites of infected mosquitoes, typically during the warmer summer months. Greece and Italy have also reported human cases this year. Most of the Italian cases so far have been in the province of Latina, which is in the Lazio region about 100 kilometres south of Rome. Italy's national health institute (ISS) flagged the cases in its weekly report Thursday, noting that "the epidemiological trend is in line with that of previous years" while the geographical distribution of the virus "appears quite different". The virus, which causes high fever and rashes, has also been reported in Piedmont, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, and Campania. Among the confirmed cases there have so far been two deaths, one in Fondi and the other in the province of Novara. "The West Nile virus has been endemic in our country for several years now," said Anna Teresa Palamara, director of the ISS's infectious diseases department, adding that measures are in place to protect against its spread. "Let us remember that 80 per cent of West Nile infection cases are asymptomatic and the risk of serious consequences is greater for the most fragile people," Palamara said. The Lazio region confirmed 12 new cases of the virus on Thursday, following tests carried out by Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases, an infectious disease hospital in Rome. According to the ISS, West Nile fever comes from the Flaviviridae family of viruses that were first isolated in 1937 in Uganda's West Nile district. The reservoirs of the virus are wild birds and mosquitoes, most frequently of the Culex type, whose bites are the main form of spread to people as there is no risk of person-to-person contagion.
Local France
4 days ago
- Local France
Why has the UK banned imports of French and Italian cheeses?
Bad news for UK residents who like iconic French cheeses such as artisan-produced brie, roquefort and reblochon or Italian classics such as pecorino ... these will no longer be available after the UK banned their imports from France or Italy. However if you are in those countries - or any other EU country - you can enjoy them to your heart's content. So what's going on? The UK's agriculture ministry Defra says that all imports of cheeses made in France or Italy with unpasturised milk are now banned. This affects any cheese made with raw milk or unpasturised milk - including some of France's most famous cheeses such as Vacherin, Roquefort, Mimolette and Tomme. Brie made by small artisan producers is likely to be unpasturised, although factory-produced brie can be made with pasturised milk. Advertisement It affects fewer Italian cheeses as the big names such as Parmesan are made with pasturised milk, but artisan-produced mozzarella is often made with raw milk, as is pecorino. You can find a full list of the affected cheeses here . Any cheeses produced before May 23rd are exempt, if the importer can produce the necessary paperwork - meaning that shortages will become apparent gradually, as some aged cheeses will continue to be imported over the next few months. The rules mostly affect commercial imports, but theoretically also apply to holidaymakers wanting to bring back a wheel of lovely, stinky European cheese. All of the above cheeses remain on sale throughout the EU. So why the UK ban? It's due to an outbreak of a cattle disease with the imaginative name of Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) which, you will be surprised to hear, causes lumps on the skin of affected cattle. In France the disease is known as dermatose nodulaire contagieuse (DNC). It is spread by the bites of flies and mosquitoes. Italy confirmed its first case in Sardinia on June 21st, 2025, leading the UK to revoke Italy's LSD-free status and suspend unpasturised imports. France reported its first LSD case near Chambéry on June 29th. Quarantine zones are in place in the affected areas with a vaccination programme for the cattle, but cheese sales have not been suspended. The UK's import ban also affects the import of live cattle. Can Lumpy Skin Disease be spread by eating cheese? No, there is no risk to humans from eating cheese that has been produced by a cow suffering from LSD, and in fact humans cannot get LSD under any circumstances. The UK government says that it is acting to prevent the spread of the virus among British cattle - hence the ban on live cattle imports. It says that the virus can survive in raw milk, including cheese made with raw milk. So if a British cow ate a brie sandwich then it could get Lumpy Skin Disease. That sounds like a small risk? Frustrated cheese sellers in the UK say that the ban is disproportionate. Cheese-mongers told The Grocer magazine that the ban is "costly, illogical and deeply frustrating", saying there is no risk to people from these cheeses. Advertisement Shane Holland, a cheese retailer based in London, told UK newspaper The Independent : "The bigger question is, what is the ban for? "We completely understand restricting the movement of live cattle. LSD is an infectious disease from cattle to cattle. But if we're talking about from cattle to milk, there's no cattle-to-human transmission at all. Even if there was the tiniest risk, it's not being consumed by cattle anyway." A Defra spokesperson stood by the ban, saying: 'This government will do whatever it takes to protect British farmers and their herds from disease,' adding that most Italian cheeses, such as Parmesan, Mozzarella and Gorgonzola, should be unaffected as they are largely pasteurised. However the UK is not the only country to impose a ban - Canada has also banned imports of unpasturised cheese from France, Italy and Switzerland. Advertisement Is this why Eurostar is telling me I can't take a ham sandwich on my journey from Paris to London? No, that's a different issue, it's because of an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in continental Europe. Germany detected an outbreak in January but has since been declared FMD-free, however subsequent outbreaks in Hungary and Slovakia have persisted. In response, the UK recently announced that it has banned imports of meat or dairy products from European countries where the virus has been detected, as well as Austria due to the outbreak in neighbouring Hungary. However travellers are being advised that meat and dairy products from all EU countries are banned, which is why you may have received an email from Eurostar or ferry companies if you have recently travelled from France to the UK. Foot and mouth disease does not affect humans but is highly contagious among cattle. A major outbreak in the UK in 2001 led to the culling of more than six million animals and cost the economy billions, devastating the livestock industry and tourism.
Euronews
7 days ago
- Euronews
From Italy to Ukraine, plastic waste gets a second life with DIY tech
It all started in 2014 when Dave Hakkens, then a student at the Eindhoven Design Academy, released his design for a plastic recycling machine to the world for free. The aim was to make plastic recycling available to local communities at scale by lowering the technological threshold for success with easily replicable and repairable machines. That year, three people independently replicated Hakkens' machine. Within a short time, the Precious Plastic project was born. 'Teach a man to fish' Everything the project makes - from machines, tutorials and tools to product designs - is shared freely online under open-source licenses, enabling anyone, anywhere, to start a plastic recycling project. Machines can also be purchased and shipped globally, or, for the DIY-savvy, replicated, repaired and improved upon with off-the-shelf materials. Four iterations of the original machines later, Precious Plastic is now a global community of more than 2000 registered plastic recycling initiatives across 56 countries. Community members not only tweak and improve upon the machines, but are also setting up business and infrastructure for plastic recycling while raising awareness locally. 'At the end of the day, what we wanted was more plastic recycling,' says Jerry de Voos, who joined Precious Plastic in 2017 while on a gap year between his Bachelor's and Master's in Industrial Design to help develop version three of the machines. 'Often, we had an idea from what others had done or what we thought the community would benefit from,' explains de Voos. 'Then we'd seek funding and when we were happy with the results, we would share them online.' Plastic waste remains an intractable problem By 2050, 99 per cent of all birds will have eaten plastic. Plastic waste remains one of the biggest environmental issues facing the planet. It's estimated that less than 9 per cent of all plastic is recycled, with the rest ending up in landfills, nature or the ocean. The consequences are particularly felt by wildlife and vulnerable ecosystems, with the actual impact of issues like microplastics only recently becoming evident. For the first time in 2025, an Italian study found microplastics in several women's ovaries, raising concerns over their impact on fertility rates. Though the technology for plastic recycling is out there, the expansion of the recycling industry remains stagnant. More often than not, recycled plastics rely on infrastructure that remains immature or non-existent in many countries. Virgin plastics manufacturing also remains significantly cheaper than high-quality recycling. Add to this an increase in energy and labour costs, and what you're left with is a recycling sector under pressure, with investors unwilling to bet on the growth of the sector as it is. But rather than wait for the established market players to turn plastic recycling into a viable business proposition, Precious Plastic decided to lower the threshold for new players to enter the game. 'Precious Plastic was one of the first projects where you could have small, personal solutions to bigger challenges and thereby make people feel like they could contribute to solving the issue,' explains de Voos. It has also shared best-practice business tools for those wanting to make a living out of plastic recycling. As a result, several startups and businesses around the world are scaling plastic recycling at the local level. In Singapore, Plastify has kickstarted a PET-bottle collection scheme and collaborates with hospitals to turn medical packaging waste into products, including official merchandise for the F1 Grand Prix. In Turin, Italy, Plastiz turns everything from old traffic lights to coffee pods into sheets for architecture and interior design projects. And amidst war, No Waste Ukraine is 'trying to make waste sorting a cultural norm and to replace the old Soviet-era shame, when recycling was seen as a sign of poverty, with a new sense of pride and identity,' says project lead, Khrystyna Baranovska. Since opening a Precious Plastic workshop, No Waste Ukraine has been able to manifest café furniture, notebook covers and branded gifts made from recycled plastic. Plastic recycling requires long-term, multi-stakeholder commitment While donations and occasional funding have supplied materials, workspace and sustenance for the community, Precious Plastic owes much of its success to volunteer work. The reliance on altruism is both the key to its success and the fragile pillar of its foundation. When de Voos was active, 'we were 12 people volunteering almost daily for free,' he says. 'But at some point, people have to pay the rent.' When a new version has been released, the project dies down, with version five currently on hold due to financial trouble. De Voos is not worried, though. 'The machines are out there and they are as relevant now as back then,' he says. Anyone can pick up where Precious Plastic left off. Though Precious Plastic's global community has moved plastic recycling significantly closer to the finish line, 'it would be great if there was greater appreciation for people working in the recycling industry, and if the government would share the responsibility and back local initiatives,' he adds. . Recycling is only as good as the plastic produced Circularity in plastic requires change from start to finish. Even with hyperlocal efforts and open-source technologies, at current production rates, recycling efforts simply can't catch up with virgin plastics. Around 460 million metric tonnes of plastic are produced every year, according to the United Nations Environment Programme, of which most of it is designed in a way that makes 1:1 recycling difficult, if not impossible Alternatives are on the rise, however, from Notpla's edible packaging in the UK to a Japanese alternative that dissolves safely in sea water. There are numerous examples challenging the notion that virgin plastics everywhere are a must. What's left to be seen is whether global leaders can get behind a plastic treaty this August that will finally see the plastic industry shift towards more circular designs and production. If so, plastic recycling at scale could become a thing. If not via big industry players, then evidently via grassroots initiatives like Precious Plastic.
