The detection of West Nile virus in a bird at Costa Esuri, on the Spanish side of the Guadiana river, has led Andalusian authorities to place the area on alert, as well as raising concerns just a stone's throw away in the Algarve municipalities of Vila Real de Santo António and Castro Marim.
Several Portuguese bodies have been contacted to ask whether the situation is being monitored and whether it poses any risk to the region, but so far there has been no hint of a reply.
This is the first case found in birds on the coast of Spain’s Huelva province, and the tenth confirmed positive in Andalusia, according to the regional Department of the Presidency, Health and Emergencies, as reported by the Spanish newspaper Huelva Hoy. The detection has also been entered in Spain’s national register of notifiable animal diseases.
Surveillance and prevention measures have been reinforced in the area, with authorities on the Spanish side of the river urging residents to avoid mosquito bites by using approved repellents, wearing light-coloured clothing that covers most of the body, and fitting mosquito screens to windows. They have also advised clearing standing water from patios and gardens to deprive mosquitoes of breeding sites.
Ayamonte Town Hall is continuing its mosquito control and prevention treatments, working with Huelva’s provincial council, according to local authorities.
With Costa Esuri added, the list of areas on alert in Spain’s Andalusia region now includes places in the provinces of Almería, Cádiz, Córdoba, Huelva, and Seville.
On the Portuguese side, the Jornal do Algarve newspaper sought answers from public health and veterinary surveillance bodies on whether the situation was being tracked, whether the risk to the Algarve has been assessed, and whether extra preventive measures are planned in areas near the border. No replies have yet been received.
Costa Esuri’s proximity to the Algarve, particularly the eastern municipalities of Vila Real de Santo António and Castro Marim, makes cross-border surveillance one of the questions still to be answered. Finding the virus in a bird in Spain does not in itself mean there is transmission in Portugal, or a confirmed risk to people in the Algarve.
Source: Jornal do Algarve / Hoy Huelva
Photo credit: Julio González
