Internet viruses are overwhelming Europe’s small business sector with 22 percent of these companies closing down operations to recover from recent attacks, according to research revealed Monday. The worst hit countries were France and Italy where 50 percent and 30 percent of small businesses respectively were brought to a standstill by outbreaks, said McAfee Security, a division of U.S. software company Network Associates. Network Associates defines small businesses as companies with under 20 employees. There are nearly 14 million such organizations across western Europe, the company said. The economic toll and frequency of attacks is crippling the firms, the company said. Each Internet virus attack costs the companies 5,000 euros ($6,090) in lost output and clean-up. Full Story