Athenian-Macedonian News Agency: No malaria and dengue cases recorded in Greece

No cases of malaria and dengue have been recorded in Greece this season, which is considered a positive development. Especially in the case of malaria, no endemic cases have been recorded in Greece in the last three years, while in the period 2009 – 2021 there were isolated cases or clusters of indigenous malaria cases in Europe (157 cases in total) with Greece having the highest proportion of cases.
According to Dr Spiros Mourelatos, President of Ecodevelopment, the coordinated efforts by the public and private sectors to prevent malaria reintroduction in Greece have been very effective, and the relevant expertise and methodology are available to be applied again if and when needed. In any case, speaking to the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency, he stated that malaria is a serious disease for which, however, there is a drug treatment and it mainly affects rural areas where spraying interventions are more effective as opposed to similar interventions in the built environment for other diseases.

As for dengue fever, no cases were recorded in Greece after World War II, although the mosquito involved in its transmission (Aedes albopictus – Asian tiger) has a wide distribution. The main reason is that Greece does not have large movements of human populations – carriers of the disease – to and from the two main regions where dengue is highly transmitted, South America, the Caribbean, South-East Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

In contrast, large numbers of indigenous dengue cases have occurred this season exclusively in France, Italy and Spain. “The average number of cases in Europe for the period 2010 – 2021 was six cases, while the average for the last three years (2022 – 2024) is one hundred”, said biologist Sandra Gewehr, Director of Research and Development at Ecodevelopment SA and President of the European Mosquito Control Association, to the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency.
She said, among other things, that the European south is now in a phase of deterring the establishment of dengue, which means that intensive efforts are being made to prevent its establishment in the region. The tactic, she said, is the same and focuses on fighting mosquitoes so that the virus is not transmitted through them. The specificity of dengue, however, is that it is found in an urban environment and not in the countryside, in private spaces and small outbreaks, so the timely mobilisation of the relevant bodies and intensive spraying are key points to prevent its transmission.

West Nile virus endemic situation

On the other hand, the situation in the case of West Nile virus is quite different as it is now an endemic situation since 2010, with the total number of confirmed cases to date amounting to 908 in 18 European countries (ECDC, 25/09/2024).In Greece, 192 cases of West Nile virus have been recorded so far this year, representing 85% of the average number of cases over the last six years (2018-2023) in the country. The important feature this year was the greater dispersion of cases compared to previous years, as cases were recorded in 9 out of 13 regions of the country.
In particular, based on the large-volume time series data collected systematically since 2018 by Ecodevelopment in the Region of Central Macedonia, the initial prediction made on 30 June for low/moderate intensity of West Nile virus transmission in humans was largely confirmed.
“Out of the five key risk factors (temperature, rainfall, mosquito abundance, presence of West Nile virus in mosquitoes, seropositivity in domestic sentinel animal), the factor that upgraded the risk from low to moderate was the particularly elevated temperatures in most of July and August,” Spiros Mourelatos said, adding: “the combination of low rainfall and elevated temperatures resulted in low larval and adult mosquito populations in both Culex pipiens, which is involved in West Nile virus transmission, and Aedes caspius, which is responsible for most of the mosquito nuisance.”
Following the above, the mosquito control programmes are being completed and a reduction in mosquito nuisance levels is expected from October due to the prevalence of temperatures below 15 degrees Celsius.

Τhe Athens Macedonian Agency article was republished by several news agencies, some of which you can find below:

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