Posted by moodhacker on July 21, 2013 at 4:20 AM
To be in Greece this year means to be protected .
Anyone has to keep the Personal Hygiene Rules 24/7 and be informed, since the country is struggling under devastating financial cuts, .To be able to enjoy the “raw nature” experience on this land , one has to be covered, health –and-safety-wise the way the world travelers really do today.
Since the central spot of tourists’ arrivals in Greece and transporting them to the islands still is Athens mainly, that is, Attiki Region, the Greek CDC informs all travelers and visitors that Attiki Region requires constant mosquito protection from the moment one the traveler arrives and as long as he stays. Most of the visitors choose to stay in Athens for a couple of days as a short "cultural transit" before they fly through Venizelos airport or board on Piraeus harbor for the islands.
Two new cases of infection with West Nile virus were recorded Friday 19 of July by the Greek Center for Disease Control and Prevention , one in Thessaloniki and one in Athens, bringing the total number of cases to three. Last Tuesday the organization confirmed the first case in Attiki Region, at the area of Artemida.
The second case announced by the Greek CDC Friday 19, is an elderly man also, as the first case , but from Northern Greece this time, and is a Thessaliniki resident
The third case is a young woman, resident of East Attiki with underlying diseases, who required hospitalization, after which her condition improved , and successfully returned home.
The Greek CDC has intensified Awareness and Control Measures to Inform the Public for Personal Protection Guidelines against the mosquito bites, Recommendations that have to be kept unfailingly by residents and visitors in Greece, as the Greek CDC stresses, 24/7 while being outdoors and also indoors, since the swarms of mosquito populations are scientifiacally accessed to be infected, and that came as result of the cut of the required spraying programs by the government for national recession reasons.
The Greek CDC reminds to people of all ages that the West Nile virus is carried by birds and is transmitted to humans and animals through the bite of the common mosquitoes, that unfortunately , fly around in Greece during the summer season.
The bites are common, unless one is protected thoroughly over any uncovered skin during day and night,
and the Greek CDC reminds that the aim of protection measures this summer for Greece is Everyone to avoid Any Bite
o No vaccine or treatment for the West Nile infection are available to World Medicine , and some cases could require Intensive units.
The majority of cases though , adds the Greek CDC on its announcement, remain asymptomatic or develop mild symptoms.
Nevertheless , more severe manifestations of the disease usually occur in elderly people with underlying diseases, which is the target of the population that has to be unfailingly protected against all mosquito bites
The everyday-in -summer Personal Protective Measures which Greeks and foreigners, visitors, travelers and immigrants must follow until the fall months, when the West Nile and malaria epidemics fade out, include
• using insect repellent substances in exposed skin and on top of the clothes, especially during outdoor activities in the afternoon or evening.
Since the mosquito swarms are extensively infected , though, on the areas of mainland and island Greece, skin and clothing protection is wiser to be kept constantly 24/7.
• using implementation sieves on the windows , putting nets for the sleep time on beds.
**Attention: Accommodation on the Greek islands includes often “rooms-to-let” , traditional local houses that keep running the authentic hospitality tourism business sincre years. It is very possible that the home owners, the hosts, would not be adequately informed or equipped.
***Ask your travel agent for that detail, or the hospitality desk in your hotel, or the owner of the room-to-let business, wherever you are found. If not possible to be provided to you by them, ask and try to find cheap, portable sieves for the windows. Use anti-repellent in the room and body antirepellent on you, on your beloved ones, and y our pets
Take special care for mosquito bites’ protection during day abnd sleep on camping areas
Greek CDC reminds to Greek and foreign holidaymakers that mosquitoes don’t like sea water . The dangers on the areas of a beach or at the pool areas are around any standing waters.
The Greek CDC reminds to all households and all greek and foreign citizens also that mosquito protection Control Measures are primarily to avoid sources of stagnant water around you, personally, as a household or as a community, in backyards, balconies, little pots, (even in the pet’s water cup) , to be left openly especially on mosquito breeding hours that are evening to drawn.
The Greek CDC in cooperation with the Ministry of Health has informed health professionals for the diagnosis of infection of West Nile virus and keeps closely monitoring the progression of the disease in Greece and neighboring countries , and keeps also close surveillance eye on blood donations.
earlier story
Posted by moodhacker on July 16, 2013 at 1:40 PM
The public health authorities , being set in emergency mobility for any West Nile virus infections this year, expressed their enormous concern today , Tuesday July16, 2013 for the protection of the Greek population and of the foreign visitors from any possible West Nile epidemic, while the Greek CDC announced the first confirmed case of WN in the region of Attica.
The Greek CDC’s Surveillance and Public Health Protection teams are on the alert, and on behalf of the Ministry of Health, the Greek CDC has set on the Infectious Alert coordination network , so that hospitals and all the health centers in Greece are informed, and 24/7 updated, to contribute to the early detection of any new cases of the epidemic, and to provide direct health assistance to Greeks or foreigners that may have contracted the virus.
Cooperation between all competent authorities to combat the EMERGENCY of the West Virus in Greece, becomes, each year since 2010, another one greek epic.
Decisions and Actions include the “communication-interaction and coordination” of the Greek CDC by the Minstry of Health with the Ministry of Agricultural Development and basically, the municipalities and regions administrations throughout the country which, all, are under the umbrella of the Minster of Internal Affairs .
Even though in 2013 our best national financial survival expectations do lay, –almost exclusively- on the tourists visiting Greece this summer, few , really, do worry about the Public Health Safety of these tourists . (It’s old news, anyway, that Greeks in Charge –do-not- worry -about Greeces safety on the Global Health Village.)
Greek CDC has raised flag for emergency awareness throughout the whole country , in mainland Greece, in Attiki region especially, -where through almost all tourists travel to the islands,- and also for the Northern Greece, Thrace and Macedonia where since the summer of 2010 large outbreaks have occurred.
Unfortunately , this year, and especially on these present days, the Attica region is considered most and extremely dangerous for possible infections since the mosquitoes’ populations are already found to be infected by the WNV , as official sources told the greek2m.org and other local media .
The Greek CDC has repeatedly, since early summer of 2013, alerted the muinicipalities in danger for WNV infections and esppecially for the Attiki region ,for the early Spraying urgency which, according to the international scientific Recommendations, had to be completed ,much earlier than July.
The contamination incident was announced today as the first official case of the WN in Greece ,is an elderly patient with underlying diseases Last year outbreaks were recorded in Attica, in Thessaloniki, Chalkidiki, Pella, Imathia, Kavala, Aetoloakarnania and Evia. Xanthi, Drama, Achaia, Lefkada, Corfu, Samos and Arta.
Greek CDC's ( KEELPNO,HCDC) analysts highlight that the above areas mentioned are in red alert, in terms of contamination risk for their residents, but do not exclude the possibility of an aggressive appearance of the virus in new areas without such background.
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Despite the last years’ fatal experience and the Greek CDC emergency alerts, today, mid of July, Attica is boiling blindly by its swarms .
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