Medical experts in Romania are monitoring blood transfusions after six people died and another 16 were infected with West Nile disease.<br /><br />The mosquito-borne virus eventually attacks the brain and can result in a serious infection called meningoencephalitis.<br /><br />The measures are being taken because most of those infected do not have symptoms of the disease and it can be transmitted by blood transfusion.<br /><br />The Romanian National Public Health Institute recommends that people avoid exposure to mosquitoes, wear long-sleeved clothes and install protection screens at the windows to prevent mosquitoes from entering houses.<br /><br />Corina Posea, a doctor from the Bucharest Transfusion Center said: “We check every drop of blood that we collect because the West Nile virus can be present in the blood.”<br /><br />In Italy authorities are thinking of taking similar action after 13 cases Chikungunya were reported in Anzio, a seaside town south of Rome <br /><br />The disease is also transmitted by mosquitoes, is rarely fatal, but it is extremely painful .<br /><br />One patient who suffered from the virus said: “On Friday I had a lot of pain in a knee with high fever and I had a rash. On Saturday I went to the hospital in Anzio, where the doctor told me it was this fever…”<br /><br />People staying in Anzio, the seaside town south of Rome have been ordered not to give blood for 28 days.<br />
