Sep. 23--Remember West Nile virus?
It might seem as if the threat posed by the mosquito-born illness is waning, since the number of infected humans and deaths dwindles.
State and county health officials acknowledge that progress has been made -- that the number of mosquitos carrying the virus is being reduced and public education efforts are minimizing human infections.
State data shows that human infections dropped 96 percent between their peak in 2003 and last year. In that same period, deaths dropped from nine to zero.
So far this year, five people have contracted the virus and none have died.
But claiming victory isn't something officials are ready to do.
On the contrary, they're issuing a cautionary tale, saying that West Nile won't disappear and that government and the general public need to remain vigilant in preventing a recurrence of the worst.
"The Centers for Disease Control believes the virus is here to stay in this country," said Bryan Diehl, regional West Nile coordinator for the state Department of Environmental Protection.
West Nile first appeared in New York in 1999 and arrived in Pennsylvania in 2000. Two years later, it was detected in all but four of the Pennsylvania's 67 counties and claimed nine lives.
At its peak in 2003, the virus infected 237 people in the state.
West Nile continued to cause deaths from 2004 through 2006 -- two deaths in each of those years in the state.
While deaths have been reported in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, the Valley News Dispatch could not confirm that any of the victims were from the Alle-Kiski Valley.
Dr. Stephen Ostroff, director of the state's Bureau of Epidemiology, said West Nile has been identified in each of the lower 48 states and "has come back every single year."
"It is firmly entrenched from one coast to the other -- from the northern border to the southern one -- and it's not going away," he said. "The message is that it's here to stay. What we don't want is for people to become complacent.
"West Nile is in the present, and unfortunately, it's going to be in the future until we come up with a magic bullet to prevent the virus."
Ostroff said that magic bullet could be a vaccine.
There is no current treatment for West Nile, although Ostroff said physicians have gotten better at diagnosing the illness.
State and county officials, meantime, have created a three-pronged approach to prevent the spread of West Nile: public education, surveillance and mosquito control.
Guillermo Cole, Allegheny County Health Department spokesman, said the public-education message hasn't changed. Residents need get rid of standing water near their homes, use screens and apply insect repellent, wear long sleeves and pants and stay indoors at dawn and dusk during the mosquito season, he said.
In terms of surveillance, counties will trap and test mosquitoes for the virus.
Cole said that 19 mosquito samples tested positive for the virus this year in Allegheny County.
According to state officials, Butler County is the only other county in the Valley where a mosquito sample tested positive for the virus this year.
"The potential for human infection is still out there because of the cases of infected mosquitoes," Cole said.
And as for control, health officials use chemicals to reduce the mosquito population. Allegheny County recently sprayed mosquito pesticide in Leetsdale and the Point Breeze section of Pittsburgh.
Charlie Young, DEP spokesman, said the state has spent about $68 million since 2000 on fighting West Nile.
Given the continued threat posed by the virus, the state won't stop spending, he said.
"We would not envision any cuts to this program," he said. "It's too important for the protection of public safety."
Michael Aubele can be reached at maubele@tribweb.com or 724-226-4673. To see more of The Valley News-Dispatch or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleynewsdispatch/. Copyright (c) 2008, The Valley News-Dispatch, Tarentum, Pa. 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 The Valley News-Dispatch, Tarentum, Pa.