Seventh death from West Nile fever in North Macedonia — 69-year-old man from Gazi Baba

The Ministry of Health confirmed the seventh fatality linked to West Nile fever in North Macedonia: a 69-year-old man from the Gazi Baba municipality who had been hospitalized for more than 38 days before his death, Health Minister Sasho Klekovski said at a press briefing.

“Regarding the situation with West Nile fever, since my last report, we have one death. This is the patient who was hospitalized the longest – over 38 days in hospital,” Klekovski said.

Cases concentrated in Skopje North, new suspect in Radishani

Klekovski added that all newly registered cases since the weekend have been located in Skopje North and that he has asked municipal mayors to intensify control and prevention activities in that part of the capital. He also said there is a new suspected case from the Radishani neighborhood.

At present, 19 patients are hospitalized with West Nile fever across the country, the minister reported.

Asked why the recorded deaths so far are all men, Klekovski cited international research showing higher rates of neuroinvasive disease and mortality among males. “The largest study is in America on over 3,000 cases. In that study it is clear that both morbidity, that is the rate of neuroinvasive disease, and mortality are higher among men,” he said. In North Macedonia the morbidity ratio is about 3.7:1 male to female.

He noted two additional conditions linked to worse outcomes — chronic kidney disease and previous cerebrovascular incidents — and pointed out that these conditions are statistically more common in men. “It is possible, hypothetically, that men have more cerebrovascular incidents, because we know that statistically women, especially for a good part of life, are protected from cardiovascular incidents,” Klekovski added.

At a press conference on September 1 the minister said that since the beginning of the outbreak 55 cases have been registered in the country, 53 of them laboratory-confirmed. Authorities have also confirmed a third dead bird infected with West Nile virus: a raven found in the Karpoš municipality near the Drama Theatre.

Klekovski urged citizens not to report birds that have been dead for a long time, eaten or decomposed, because such specimens cannot be tested. He asked the public to focus reports on ravens and said that surveillance efforts will now shift from Skopje toward the interior of the country, where new findings will be more epidemiologically significant.

Photo: press material from the event