The Andalusian regional government’s Directorate-General for Public Health and Pharmaceutical Planning has confirmed three new human cases of West Nile fever in Seville province, taking the season’s total in Andalusia to nine.

Residents and visitors in Villamanrique de la Condesa, Palomares del Río and Seville municipality are now covered by intensified surveillance measures. One patient, a 71-year-old man from Seville’s Tablada district, remains in hospital after developing symptoms on 25 July.

The reference laboratory at Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío confirmed all three diagnoses, according to the Directorate-General.

Two mild cases and one patient with neurological symptoms

The other two cases are men aged 40 and 48 who live in Villamanrique de la Condesa and Palomares del Río respectively. Both have mild symptoms.

  • Villamanrique de la Condesa: alert-area status extended until 20 August.
  • Palomares del Río: alert-area status extended until 21 August.
  • Seville municipality: newly designated as an alert area after the epidemiological investigation identified Tablada as the probable place of exposure for the hospitalised patient.

The Directorate-General said the Tablada patient has a clinical condition involving neurological effects, which occur in fewer than 1% of West Nile fever cases.

Alert areas trigger reinforced mosquito and health checks

The mild cases were identified through the Andalusian Programme for Integrated Surveillance and Vector Control of West Nile Fever, which monitors residents and visitors in municipalities under special observation or designated as alert areas when they develop symptoms.

Alert-area status increases entomological, animal and human surveillance, alongside community information measures. In Villamanrique de la Condesa and Palomares del Río, residents are covered by the extended alert periods until 20 and 21 August respectively.

Reported by Redacción, aljarafeymas.com, El Correo, europapress.es, Noticias de Andalucía | Diario Andaluz | Diario Andaluz, juntadeandalucia.es, El Imparcial, animalshealth.es, NTM/EFE, diarioveterinario.com, 20minutos |, Cristina Valdivieso, consalud.es, Elena Fernandez de Liencres, El Periódico (CA).