OVIEDO, Spain

Hundreds of residents who live on the banks of the Guadalquivir River in Spain’s Seville province gathered on Monday to protest the alleged inaction around the deadly West Nile virus. 

The mosquito-borne virus has already claimed the lives of two women in the province — one in the capital city and another in La Puebla del Rio, where Monday’s protest took place.

“La Puebla del Rio is a ghost town after eight at night,” protester Raquel Herrera told local daily Diario de Sevilla. “In the daytime, we can’t go out because it’s too hot. Now, we can’t go out at dusk because of the mosquitos.”

Protesters told the newspaper that they believe around 20 people are currently hospitalized in the area due to the disease, but suggested that many others have had milder symptoms.

“I am super scared,” said protest organizer Juan Jose Sanchez Silva. “The situation is going from bad to worse, and in the upcoming years we could see Yellow Fever, Dengue Fever, Zika or something even worse.”

In June, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) alerted that mosquito-borne illnesses have been spreading across Europe and that conditions in Spain were ripe for outbreaks this year.

Mosquitos of the species Culex pipiens spread West Nile, but their period of activity is lengthening due to climate change. Usually, they are active from June to October, but this spring a case of West Nile was already reported in Seville in March.

West Nile has been considered endemic in Spain since 2003.

In humans, around 80% of West Nile infections are asymptomatic, with most of the rest triggering fever or other symptoms like headaches. However, around one out of 150 infected people develop serious, and sometimes fatal illnesses, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

In La Puebla del Rio, protesters called on the government for solutions such as better mosquito control, specific protocols at health clinics and more funding for vaccine development.

Currently, there are no vaccines or medicines to prevent West Nile in humans.

In June, the ECDC also warned Europe to brace for an increase in dengue fever this summer because of travelers importing the illness from the ongoing outbreak in South America and causing local transmission.

The number of locally transmitted cases in Europe increased by 83% between 2022 and 2023, rising from 71 to 130 cases.