The Daily Southerner, Tarboro, NC

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August 20, 2012

West Nile claims first NC life

Editor and Publisher John H. Walker

TARBORO — Following the report of the state’s first death attributed to West Nile Virus (WNV), local health officials are reminding residents to be cautious.

The death, which involved an elderly Wayne County resident, was reported Monday.

Meredith Capps, health education supervisor with the Edgecombe County Health Department, said West Nile virus is typically transmitted by mosquitoes and that people should avoid areas of standing water and wear long sleeves when outdoors.

“If you have areas of standing water,” she said, “you should either drain it or pour it out so that there is no place for the mosquito larvae to survive.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control website, the easiest and best way to avoid WNV is to prevent mosquito bites.

• When you are outdoors, use insect repellent containing an EPA-registered active ingredient. Follow the directions on the package.

• Many mosquitoes are most active at dusk and dawn. Be sure to use insect repellent and wear long sleeves and pants at these times or consider staying indoors during these hours.

• Make sure you have good screens on your windows and doors to keep mosquitoes out.

• Get rid of mosquito breeding sites by emptying standing water from flower pots, buckets and barrels. Change the water in pet dishes and replace the water in bird baths weekly. Drill holes in tire swings so water drains out. Keep children's wading pools empty and on their sides when they aren't being used.

While discussion and thoughts of West Nile become more prevalent during the summer, manifestation of the disease is not that commonplace, as approximately 80 percent of people who are infected with WNV will not show any symptoms at all.

About one in 150 people infected with WNV will develop severe illness. The severe symptoms can include high fever, headache, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness, vision loss, numbness and paralysis. These symptoms may last several weeks, and neurological effects may be permanent.

Up to 20 percent of the people who become infected have symptoms such as fever, headache, and body aches, nausea, vomiting, and sometimes swollen lymph glands or a skin rash on the chest, stomach and back. Symptoms can last for as short as a few days, though even healthy people have become sick for several weeks.

Most often, WNV is spread by the bite of an infected mosquito. Mosquitoes become infected when they feed on infected birds. Infected mosquitoes can then spread WNV to humans and other animals when they bite.

People typically develop symptoms between three and 14 days after the infected mosquito bites them and there is no protocol for treatment.

More information may be found at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/

 

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