Fourth Dutch West Nile infection confirmed, first case develops meningitis
A 39-year-old woman from Amstelveen has been diagnosed with meningitis caused by West Nile virus, the fourth Dutch case this year and the first with that complication.
The public health board has verified that a 39-year-old woman from Amstelveen developed meningitis after infection with West Nile virus, becoming the fourth known case in the Netherlands this year and the first to present this severe complication. West Nile virus, transmitted by mosquitoes, was previously mostly acquired abroad, but a cluster of recent cases in humans, horses and birds indicates it is now endemic in the country.
RIVM notes that roughly 80 % of infections cause no symptoms, 19 % produce mild illness such as fever and headache, and meningitis occurs in about 1 % of infections. A week earlier, RIVM confirmed a fatal West Nile fever case in Utrecht, and another death occurred in Drenthe in a traveler. The agency plans to publish a further update on the outbreak later this week and emphasizes that the overall risk of serious disease remains very low.
How this was covered
- Left-leaning outlets covered this 14h later
Why it matters
The case shows West Nile virus is now locally established in the Netherlands, prompting heightened public-health monitoring.
In this story
