Fears grow over spread of deadly West Nile virus after two more die in Spain having been bitten by mosquitos bringing toll to five this year in one region

Fears are growing over the spread of the deadly West Nile virus after two more people die in Spain having been bitten by mosquitos. 

Five victims have now succumbed to West Nile virus since the start of the year in the Seville region. 

The last two to die both lived in Coria del Rio on the banks of the Guadalquivir River where another person died earlier this year. One is known to have been a 71-year-old man who had been admitted to intensive care at a hospital in Seville.

The regional Junta de Andalucia government said overnight it had identified ten new cases of the illness as concern rose in the area.

On July 19, Granada Romero Ruiz's family confirmed the 86-year-old had lost her fight for life at Seville's Virgen del Rio Hospital following her admission on July 11 and confirmation she had West Nile virus.

Fears are growing over the spread of the deadly West Nile virus after two more people die in Spain having been bitten by mosquitos (file image)

On July 19, Granada Romero Ruiz's (pictured) family confirmed the 86-year-old had lost her fight for life at Seville's Virgen del Rio Hospital following her admission on July 11 and confirmation she had West Nile virus

Her son Antonio Pineda said at the time she was in perfect health before she was bitten by a mosquito and claimed her death could have been avoided if areas near her home in La Puebla del Rio a half-hour drive south of Seville had been properly fumigated.

The other two victims came from the town of Dos Hermanos and Coria del Rio.

British holidaymakers travelling to Spain have been warned about the deadly West Nile virus for the past few years.

Pablo Barreiro, an expert in infectious diseases, warned after a deadly outbreak in 2020 claimed the lives of two people in Seville and put eight in hospital intensive care, that it could spread to the whole of Spain.

He said at the time: 'Only about two to five per cent of the cases present symptoms.

'It's an illness that can go unnoticed very easily.'

Last month the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) sounded the alarm, with its director Andrea Ammon saying: 'Europe is already seeing how climate change is creating more favourable conditions for invasive mosquitoes to spread into previously unaffected areas and infect more people with diseases such as dengue. 

'Increased international travel from dengue-endemic countries will also increase the risk of imported cases, and inevitably also the risk of local outbreaks.'

West Nile virus, spread by the Culex mosquito, first reached Spain in 2004 with horses being most affected.

Elderly people and those with underlying health conditions like diabetes and cancer are most at risk, but it can cause meningitis in children.

Wetlands and swimming pools in countryside areas have been identified as the places where the mosquitoes carrying the virus are most likely to be found.

La Puebla del Rio Town Hall, in a statement on X posted last month after Granada's death showing her enjoying a beer and looking a picture of health just weeks before she fell ill, said: 'We deeply regret the death of Granada, affected by West Nile virus.

'We will work tirelessly so that all public providers do the utmost against this virus and there is a permanent strategy in place to tackle mosquitoes.'

In recent times, the ECDC has reported 713 locally acquired cases of West Nile virus across nine different European countries - a shocking figure that resulted in the tragic loss of 67 lives and saw the virus creeping into 22 fresh regions previously untouched by it.

Last year's main hotspots for the deadly virus were Italy, Greece, Romania, Hungary, and Spain.