According to the latest report from the French Public Health Authority (SPF), published this Thursday, July 16, a local case of West Nile virus infection has been identified in the Eastern Pyrenees.
This is the first time. According to the latest report from the French Public Health Authority (SPF), a local case of West Nile virus (or West Nile virus) has been identified in the Eastern Pyrenees. This is the first detection of the mosquito-borne virus circulating among people in France in 2026.
In its advisory, SPF recalls that West Nile virus, an avian virus that can also infect humans and horses, can cause neurological damage in humans. In detail, the SPF indicates that 20% of infected people develop a flu-like syndrome (sudden fever, headache, joint and muscle pain), which may be accompanied by a rash. Severe forms of the disease occur in fewer than one in 100 people infected, mostly in adults and especially older people. These are neuroinvasive forms, manifesting as meningitis, meningoencephalitis, flaccid paralysis or Guillain-Barré syndrome. The incubation period usually lasts from two to six days, but can range from two to fourteen days.
Less than one serious case in 100
Recall that West Nile was first isolated in 1937 in the West Nile District of Uganda, hence its name. Historically, it has been responsible for epidemics in Africa, the Middle East, Western Asia and Europe. It first appeared in North America in 1999 and spread throughout the territory within a few years. In mainland France it is regularly found in the Mediterranean region.
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Prevention of West Nile virus infection is based on mosquito control measures such as “individual” (protection of clothing, repellents, coils, electric diffusers, mosquito nets) and “collectives” (control of larval breeding sites and, depending on the entomological situation, possible measures against adult mosquitoes), further promotion of the sanitary control authority.
Last year was a record year since SPF identified 60 cases of West Nile disease in France. Last May, Marie Baville, head of the health crisis center at the Directorate General of Health, and Dr. Harold Noel, deputy director of the Office of Infectious Diseases at the French Ministry of Health, recalled: 2025 was a record year.“exclusive for mainland France” on the front line of diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, tigers or Aedes albopictus (carriers of dengue, chikungunya, Zika) and… culex, common mosquito (West Nile vector).