No emergency says health ministry.

Lazio, the region Rome belongs to, has registered its fifth West Nile Virus death after a 77-year-old man died of it in Latina's Santa Maria Goretti hospital, sources said on Monday.

    Like the other reported victims, the patient was elderly and had other pre-existing conditions.

    It means that the disease, which causes high fever and is spread by mosquitoes, has claimed at least 11 lives in Italy so far this year, with most of the other cases in Campania and one in Piedmont.

    The health ministry had said West Nile Virus situation is not an emergency.

    It said the contagion figures are in line with previous years, although this year it is present in parts of the country that had not been previously affected.

    The Higher Health Institute (ISS) said there were 484 cases last year and 36 deaths.

Source: Ansa.it