Measles

The spread of West Nile, a virus carried by mosquitoes that has claimed 44 lives since appearing in May, is on the wane, according to the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (KEELPNO), with no new infections being reported in the last week.

Since its outbreak in the spring, 312 people have been infected by West Nile, making 2018 Greece's worst year for the virus on record.

Bulgaria, Latvia and France are the most vaccine-sceptic countries in the European Union, a survey suggests, reports EuroNews. 

Fewer than 70% of respondents in all three countries consider innoculations safe, according to the Brussels-commissioned poll.

Greece has one of Europe's lowest vaccination rates, according to a new study published by the European Commission which also found that immunity to measles has been dropping since 2010.

Only two out of three Bulgarians agree that vaccines are safe and 72.7 per cent believe they are effective - among the lowest level of trust among European Union nationals, according to a report published by the European Commission on Wednesday to mark World Polio Day.

A measles outbreak that has infected more than 3,200 people in Greece since May last year seems to be on the wane, as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has reported no new cases over the past week.

The head of Moldova's Orthodox Church, Vladimir, which is subordinated canonically to Moscow, has urged his priests in an internal memo to help deal with the current epidemic measles through special prayers.

Clergy should "serve in churches and pray for a stop to the measles epidemic and contagious disease", the Metropolitan of Chisinau and All Moldova wrote in an internal memo.

Cases of measles in Europe have hit a record high, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

More than 41,000 people have been infected in the first six months of 2018, leading to 37 deaths.

Last year there were 23,927 cases and the year before 5,273. Experts blame this surge in infections on a drop in the number of people being vaccinated.

The World Health Organisation, WHO, has listed Serbia among the seven European countries hardest hit by measles during the first half of this year, with 14 deaths recorded so far.

Ukraine tops the list, with over 23,000 people affected, accounting for over half of the regional total, WHO's report published on Monday shows.

What the World Health Organization has referred to as "a dramatic increase" in cases of measles in Europe has not left Greece untouched, though the rate of cases in the country has slowed in recent months. 

Health authorities in Thessaloniki announced on Thursday that an 18-year-old man became the fourth person to die of measles in the past year on Tuesday after succumbing to respiratory complications while receiving treatment at the northern port city's Papanikolaou Hospital.