The singer said on social media that he was affected by the infection and had to give up two concerts. What is the Tuscany virus, how is it transmitted, what symptoms does it cause and why neuroinvasive cases have increased in Italy.
«About ten days ago a sandfly decided to bite me, transmitting the Tuscany virus to me». That’s how it is Tommaso Paradiso spoke on social media the reason that forced him to stop at the end of the summer, giving up two musical dates. The singer explained that he is on the mend, but that he is not yet at his best. A personal episode that brought an infection that was anything but new back into the spotlight: the Tuscany virus in fact, it has been circulating in Italy for decades, especially during the hot season, but remains relatively little known to the general public. The name can be misleading. The virus was isolated for the first time in Tuscany, in the early 1970s, but today it is by no means confined to the region from which it takes its name. It is present in various Italian areas and in numerous Mediterranean countries, from Spain to France, from Greece to Croatia.
It’s a arbovirusthat is, a virus transmitted through the bite of an arthropod, and its vector is not the mosquito, as we often tend to think, but the sandflya small insect belonging to the sandfly family. The news of the Paradiso case, therefore, does not signal the arrival in Italy of a new infectious agent. The virus was already here and, under certain conditions, continues to circulate every summer: but contracting the Toscana virus does not automatically mean developing meningitis or encephalitis. Most infections are asymptomatic or cause a febrile illness that resolves spontaneously. It is a minority of cases that affect the nervous system, but when it happens the clinical picture can be serious.
The sandfly, the virus and the symptoms: how the infection occurs
The transmission mechanism is simple: the infected sandfly bites a person and at that moment it can transmit the virus to them. These are very small insects, similar to mosquitoes, but with different characteristics. They are difficult to perceive why they have a silent flight and are particularly active in the warm months. Furthermore, the larvae do not need the stagnant water typical of mosquito development sites: they can be found in humid, sheltered environments rich in organic material. In Italy one of the most important vector species is Phlebotomus perniciosusfollowed by Phlebotomus perfiliewi. Transmission is therefore linked above all to the presence of vectors and the environmental conditions that favor their circulation.
The risk period is mainly between spring and autumn, with a greater concentration of cases in the summer months. According to Italian surveillance data, the season of cases generally occurs between May and November, with a peak in August. After the puncture, the incubation period of the Toscana virus it is generally three to seven days, although it can be up to about two weeks.
When the infection causes symptoms, the onset may be sudden: fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, malaise and muscle pain they are among the most common manifestations. In many cases the picture disappears spontaneously within about a week. Precisely because the symptoms are generic and often modest, a large part of infections are probably never diagnosed. The problem changes when the virus reaches the central nervous system. Meningitis may appear, i.e. an inflammation of the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord, or a meningoencephalitis or an encephalitiswhen brain tissue is also involved. In these cases, high fever, severe headache, stiff neck, vomiting and changes in neurological status may appear.
However, it is not possible to recognize the Toscana virus without fail just by the symptoms: the picture may be comparable to that caused by other viruses responsible for meningitis and encephalitis. To arrive at the diagnosis, virological tests are therefore needed, through the search for the genetic material of the virus and serological tests. It is precisely the possibility of a neurological form that makes the virus clinically relevant. The study coordinated by the Higher Institute of Health and published in 2025 on Eurosurveillance analyzed all indigenous cases of neuroinvasive infection confirmed in the laboratory and notified to national surveillance from 2016 to 2023. In eight seasons, 607 cases were recorded, 96.5% of which were hospitalized. Two patients died.
No vaccine and no antiviral: how to protect yourself
For the Toscana virus there is no vaccine today and no specific antiviral therapy is available. In most cases, treatment is therefore supportive and aims to control symptoms; when the infection affects the nervous system, hospitalization and hospital treatment appropriate to the clinical picture may be necessary. This is an aspect that distinguishes the Toscana virus from many infectious diseases for which targeted preventive or therapeutic tools exist. Prevention therefore passes above all through the reduction of sandfly bites.
The ISS indications are typical of vector-borne diseases: use repellents, cover your skin as much as possible when spending time outdoors, especially during the hours when insect activity is greatest, and protect homes with fine mesh mosquito nets. The fundamental fact to remember is that Most Toscana virus infections are asymptomatic or mild and that neurological forms are a minority. The presence of a little-known virus does not necessarily coincide with a new health emergency.
In the case of the Toscana virus, surveillance serves precisely to distinguish what is frequent from what is rare, what is mild from what can become serious and what is just a coincidence from what can represent a true epidemiological trend. Data from recent years suggests that neuroinvasive infection deserves greater attention. The Paradiso case, however, simply reminds us that even an apparently trivial bite can, under certain conditions, be the starting point of a viral infection.
