It's not just the bug you have to worry about, but also the bug it could be carrying.
Nine years after West Nile Virus first found its way to the United States, awareness continues to grow about this potentially serious illness.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about half of 1 percent of those infected with the virus will develop serious complications, including high fever and encephalitis, an inflammation of the lining around the brain.
About 80 percent of those infected with West Nile Virus will have no symptoms, and about 20 percent of people will develop flulike symptoms. But the problem is that the disease is becoming more widespread, meaning more people are at risk for the serious complications.
"It's growing. Every year we have more cases, mostly because of the (higher numbers of) mosquitoes and animals which are also being infected with the West Nile Virus," said Dr. Khaled Jouja, an infectious disease specialist who treated two patients with West Nile in Daviess County in 2003.
West Nile is, fortunately, also particular in how it is spread. Person-to-person contact, such as hugging, kissing or other physical contact, cannot spread the virus. In rare cases, the disease has been passed through blood transfusions or organ transplants, but blood is now screened before use, and the risk of transmission from organ donation is very low. In some rare cases though, it has been passed by breastfeeding mothers to their children.
Mainly, West Nile is spread through bloodborne transmission by mosquitoes. Birds play a role too though, as birds serve as breeding grounds for the virus because of a certain type of mosquitoes.
"It's mostly spread by mosquitoes that feed on birds," said Grayson Brown, a professor of entomology at the University of Kentucky. "That's why West Nile virus starts showing up late in the summer, they (mosquitoes) start running out of birds."
Since birds can die from the virus, health care officials say people shouldn't touch dead birds. Health departments will test bird carcasses if the bird meets certain criteria.
"Most importantly, don't touch it with your bare hands. Step No 1. is to call the health department and call our environmental department and me," said Janie Cambron, an epidemiologist at the Green River District Health Department in Owensboro. "We have specific protocol. It has to be dead less than 24 hours. If it's been dead over 24 hours, we're not allowed to take it."
For the most part, the virus is not much of a worry, since such a small number of people are at risk for the major symptoms of the virus. However, people over 50 are at the greatest risk for the severe symptoms and complications, Jouja said. Both people he treated in 2003 who became seriously ill from the virus were over 50.
To make matters worse, there is no real way to fight the virus.
"There's no specific treatment, just symptomatic treatment and supportive care," Jouja said, explaining just how severe patients' conditions often become. "They have to be in the ICU, sometimes on the ventilator."
Because there is no other way to fight the disease, doctors and health care officials have to stop it by any means necessary.
"Prevention is the key. Obviously we want to get the education out to the public that there are some easy ways to prevent West Nile virus," Cambron said. "It is a problem across the United States but the good thing is that it is preventable."
To prevent West Nile, it takes knowing the enemy who carries it.
"These mosquitoes also like to breed in putrid water, so any place that's got polluted water, they're going to breed," Brown said, explaining that the mosquitoes are the type out very late at night. "One thing that would be good at night is to minimize light that's going to attract them."
Use of repellents that contain Deet are also useful, although these can't be used on children. Other, alternative repellents that are child-safe are also good for keeping mosquitoes away.
Cleaning bird baths, pet dishes and pools of any type is important. A little house maintenance goes a long way also, as well as having yards and gutters maintained in a way to keep mosquitoes from having any havens.
"Keeping screens in good repair is very, very important, minimizing entryways for mosquitoes that are probing for ways to get into the house," Brown said. "Sun, air, dry conditions and wind movement are going to keep mosquitoes out of your yard."
The male mosquitoes feed on nectar-producing plants, and the females feed on the same plants the very first time they eat before moving on to blood, Brown said, so eliminating Japanese honeysuckle and similar plants, as well as vines and thick vegetation where the mosquitoes hide, is also important.
The best way to fight the mosquitoes, Brown said, is to try to think like they do.
"They're coming out of the tree and looking for a blood meal," Brown said. "Look at it from the perspective of the mosquito."
For Information
For more information on West Nile Virus, how to prevent it or how to report a bird for possible testing, call the Green River District Health Department at 686-7747. To see more of the Messenger-Inquirer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.messenger-inquirer.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2008 Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.