At least 26 people in Germany have been infected with West Nile virus this year as a result of being bitten by a native mosquito. In 13 cases, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the infections were detected in blood donors who did not show any symptoms of the disease. Four of the infected persons fell seriously ill. In 2023, 7 West Nile infections transmitted by domestic mosquitoes were reported to the RKI and 17 infections in the previous year.
Most infections were recorded for Saxony (7), Saxony-Anhalt (6) and Berlin (5). There were also reports from Brandenburg (3), Schleswig-Holstein (2) and one each from Thuringia, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, although the person from NRW is believed to have been infected in Hamburg, according to the RKI.
