Severe infection after mosquito bite
German man infected with rare Tuscany virus while on holiday in Italy
Updated 11/12/2025 – 10:58Reading time: 2 minutes
Harmless mosquito bites. That’s all it took for a 59-year-old woman to become seriously ill. What was initially thought to be a cold turned out to be a rare viral infection.
After a late summer holiday on the Italian island of Elba, Birgit S. from Müllheim fell ill with meningitis. He suffered from severe headaches and neck pain, vomiting, and confusion. He was immediately treated at the Helios Clinic in Müllheim, but the cause was initially unclear.
Only a reference to the numerous mosquito bites on holiday put the doctors on the right track: Birgit S. had been infected with the Tuscany virus. This is the first known case at the clinic.
After ten days of being hospitalized and undergoing a recovery phase, Birgit S. began experiencing new symptoms: swollen joints, redness, severe pain. At Freiburg University Hospital, reactive arthritis was diagnosed – an inflammatory joint disease caused by a viral infection. “I was desperate, couldn’t walk and had a fever,” said the patient, according to a clinic press release. His condition is now stable.
Birgit S.’s case is a lesson for the handling team. “We have to realize that there are pathogens lurking in popular holiday areas in Europe that are almost unknown here,” explains Björn Reuter, senior doctor in neurology at Müllheim. Due to climate change, pathogens such as Tuscany virus may also spread in Germany in the future.
Because sand flies, the vector of the virus, are spreading north. Other mosquito-borne diseases such as chikungunya or West Nile viruses have also been detected in the Upper Rhine.
This case shows how important it is to take infections acquired in other European countries seriously. Anyone who experiences a fever, headache or neurological symptoms after a holiday in the Mediterranean should have themselves checked and screened for possible mosquito bites.
