Ninth West Nile Death — This Year's Outbreak Has Already Outpaced the Previous 15 Years Combined
66 hospitalised this year versus 54 total cases across the previous 15 years. Levica criticises halted weekly reporting.
The number of West Nile fever deaths in Macedonia this year reached nine after a 66-year-old patient from Kumanovo died on 21 September, having been treated for 28 days at the Clinic for Infectious Diseases, part of it on mechanical ventilation. Clinic director Fadil Cana confirmed the patient had several comorbidities — a pattern present in all deaths so far.
A total of 66 people have been hospitalised since the outbreak began this year, 11 of them currently, one with a more severe clinical picture. All nine deaths have been men over 60 with chronic conditions.
This year's outbreak has no precedent: across the entire 2011-2025 period — 15 years — Macedonia recorded a total of 54 confirmed cases and five deaths. This year alone, the case count has already exceeded that 15-year total, with nearly double the number of deaths.
Opposition party Levica, since early September, has criticised the Institute of Public Health for halting its regular weekly outbreak reporting — the last official report at that point contained data only through 25 August. Emergency aerial mosquito disinsection was carried out in Skopje this past weekend.
MKNews Hub · Macedonia · September 23, 2026