As Europe warms, Italy sees West Nile virus spread

Francesco Severino, a senior researcher in medical entomology, places a net over a cage containing mosquitoes inside a laboratory at the Italian National Institute of Health in Rome, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026.

Italian health authorities see evidence that rising temperatures and longer warm seasons are helping mosquitoes spread West Nile virus across a wider area, during more months of the year.

(Image credit: Gregorio Borgia)