In Italy, there are 145 confirmed cases of West Nile virus infection, with 59 of them being neuroinvasive, 75 presenting with fever, and 11 asymptomatic, 10 of which were detected among blood donors. Health Minister Orazio Schillaci provided an update on the situation at a Senate session. "One in 150 people can develop serious complications such as encephalitis or meningitis", he noted, pointing out that mortality from such diseases is rare. The most hit regions are Lazio and Campania. Since the beginning of the summer, 12 deaths from the virus have been reported: one in Piedmont, four in Lazio, and seven in Campania. The virus has already been verified in 37 provinces across ten regions, including Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Abruzzo, Campania, Puglia, and Sardinia. "In recent years," he said, "we have observed an increasingly widespread incidence of vector-borne diseases, such as those transmitted by mosquitoes, especially during the summer months". Since 2008, the year of the first local cases in Emilia-Romagna, the virus has remained stable in Italy, with a consistent presence, particularly between July and September, in both humans and animals such as birds and horses. Despite the data, the minister reassured: the situation is regularly monitored and consistent with prior years' trends.