West Nile fever in parliament: MPs demand school protection measures

Parliamentarians brought the West Nile fever outbreak into the spotlight as the school year begins, with opposition MPs pressing the Health Minister for specific protective measures for pupils.

Sanja Lukarevska, an SDSM MP, told lawmakers she expects an urgent inspection of school grounds and clear instructions from health authorities: "Have emergency inspections been carried out of school yards and their surroundings to remove all places where water collects, to ask the municipality or the public health centre for inspection and treatment of the school yard, to check window and door screens, if a school has air conditioning where possible the windows should remain closed during periods of highest mosquito activity, outdoor activities should be avoided in the period of greatest risk, there must be full transparency to parents and pupils and therefore all these measures need to be issued by the Institute of Public Health through the Ministry of Health and even via the Ministry of Education and Science to calm fear in the relevant schools, this is yet another proof that you are inadequately handling West Nile fever."

Minister of Health Sasho Klekovski replied that authorities acted on time, that extraordinary disinfections were carried out in the municipalities where the epidemic was declared and that at-risk populations had been informed and educated.

Checks, age profile and school safeguards

Klekovski said officials inspected potential breeding sites, including school yards, and maintained that pupils are not considered a high-risk group. He told the assembly: "We have several children who were tested for West Nile fever and were negative, the youngest patient who was infected was 25 years old and we have not had anyone affected under 25 years of age and in accordance with that no special protective measures were taken, and regarding general protection measures the mayors from the Skopje region and other affected municipalities, in checking possible hotspots, performed checks also on school yards for possible standing water as a potential risk, and regarding personal protection no special measures were taken to advise pupils because this demographic group does not belong to the risk group."

Health authorities reported that six patients remain hospitalized in the infectious diseases clinic in serious condition, two of them on ventilators. Since the start of the year a total of 58 cases of the virus have been confirmed and eight deaths recorded.

The epidemic was declared at the beginning of last month in five Skopje municipalities. Lawmakers from both sides urged clearer guidance for schools and faster communication with parents as the new school year opens.

Photo: press material from the event