Klekovski: Decline in West Nile hospitalisations, another raven infected

Health Minister Sasho Klekovski said at a press briefing that hospital admissions for West Nile fever have begun to decline, and officials recorded one more infected dead raven in Skopje.

Authorities report smaller weekly admission numbers and a new positive bird in Karpoš

According to the ministry, 55 cases have been registered in the country so far this year, of which 53 are laboratory-confirmed and two remain suspected. Klekovski added that out of the 53 confirmed cases only one person was not hospitalised; the rest received inpatient care.

Current figures at the Clinic for Infectious Diseases and Febrile Conditions show 19 patients hospitalised, 17 with laboratory-confirmed West Nile disease and two still listed as suspected. For the week starting 24 August there were five hospitalised patients, three confirmed and two unconfirmed, and the minister said this represents a drop compared with the previous three weeks when weekly admissions ranged between 9 and 11.

On birds, the ministry confirmed one more infected dead raven was found within the Municipality of Karpoš, near the Drama Theatre. Klekovski urged citizens not to report long-dead, scavenged or decomposed birds because samples from them cannot be tested, and said: "We are asking the focus to be on ravens, and that collection efforts now shift from Skopje to the interior of the country because the situation in the capital is roughly known. Findings from the interior will be epidemiologically more important than findings in Skopje."

Giving summary statistics, Klekovski said: "So the fatality rate so far is 11.5 percent, the average duration of treatment is 14 days for those whose treatment has finished. The longest treatment lasted 29 days, while the shortest hospital stay is eight days." He also noted that the peak occupancy at the Infectious Diseases Clinic was on 12 August, when 24 patients were hospitalised, while a statistical cut showed the number of hospitalisations at 18.

Dr Fadil Cana, director of the Clinic for Infectious Diseases and Febrile Conditions, told reporters that three of the five patients in the intensive care unit have been extubated and their condition improved. "So at the moment two patients remain on respirators who are in a very severe condition," he said. Cana added that the remaining 14 of the 19 patients at the clinic are in good condition, and that the more severe cases are older than 60; the minister gave the average age of hospitalised patients as 66. To date, 28 of those hospitalised have recovered and been discharged.

Photo: Принтскрин