Thirty-five fresh cases of West Nile fever have been registered in the Volgograd region over the week, which brings the total number of patients to 108, a source in the regional administration told Interfax.

(Kazan, August 23, Tatar-inform). Thirty-five fresh cases of West Nile fever have been registered in the Volgograd region over the week, which brings the total number of patients to 108, a source in the regional administration told Interfax.

"One more person has died of the disease, bringing the death toll to five," the source said.

The first West Nile fever case was reported in the region a month earlier this year than in 2009 due to the heat wave.

Culex and Anopheles mosquitoes, which multiply in lakes, ponds, brooks, marshes and inundated basements, transmit the disease.

To stop the disease from spreading further sanitary services are disinfecting water reservoirs and the natural habitats of mosquitoes.

The data obtained as a result of monitoring the disease and the environment, and tests for the presence of antibodies in humans, was used to split the Volgograd region depending on the severity of the hazard.

West Nile fever was registered in the Volgograd region for the first time in 1999 when 300 people were infected, of whom 30 died.