Antonio's 86-year-old mother was in good health until she was bitten by a mosquito this summer. What started as general malaise slowly got worse and worse. "She had a severe headache, vomiting, she started getting delirious and had difficulty walking," said her son Antonio Pineda.
In 80% of cases, the virus barely causes any symptoms and passes as a simple cold. However, 1% of those infected die and it's not always due to the patient's previous conditions. "There is a small number of young people with serious infections without previous conditions and we still do not know the reason," said Jordi Figuerola, researcher at the CSIC, Spain's national research council.
The virus has so far been reported as present in 16 European countries. Italy has the highest rate of cases overall, with 331 infected and 13 deaths. However, the country with the highest death rate is Greece, with 25 people dead and 162 registered cases.
It's this southern Spanish province that sees the highest concentration of the virus in humans. In towns like La Puebla del Río, the streets are almost empty at dusk.
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