Three dead in Serbian West Nile virus outbreak

BELGRADE: Three people have died in the first ever outbreak of the West Nile virus in Serbia, in which 35 contracted the disease, health authorities said yesterday.
“The infected people are aged over 50 with some chronic disease, meaning at a higher risk of getting a more severe form of the virus,” Serbia’s public health institute said in a statement on its web site.
Those killed by the mosquito-borne disease were aged between 68 and 81 and suffered from chronic heart problems, it said.
The outbreak was first reported on Tuesday, when health authorities announced that one person had died and 21 were infected by the virus.