![]() “Once you start seeing increases of West Nile virus in those mosquitoes, that does raise the alarm that people need to be taking measures to prevent being bitten by mosquitoes,” Staples said. (Chickens are particularly helpful for monitoring West Nile, Kramer said, because they’re not susceptible to the disease but can carry antibodies against the virus in their blood.)Īnd the amount of virus found in mosquito samples is also up compared with the average over the past five years. The signals seen in “sentinel chickens” – flocks that vector control agencies use to monitor where the virus is spreading – are similarly ahead. In California, 147 dead birds had been found as of July 28, almost double what’s typically seen at this time of year, based on the state’s five-year average. And those surveillance systems in Western states are starting to produce “pretty big” warning signs for a potentially more active West Nile season, Markowski said. West Nile spreads as mosquitoes bite infected birds and then people, making both bird and mosquito populations important parts of public health surveillance for the disease.Īnd while human cases are still relatively low, at 90 across the US, August is typically the month that sees the most cases. Louis encephalitis virus, “tend to like the dusk and dawn period,” she said, unlike the kinds of mosquitoes that transmit diseases like dengue, the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, which are more active during the day. The mosquitoes, which can also transmit St. West Nile, named for the region in Uganda where it was identified in 1937, is typically spread in the US by a mosquito called Culex, found across the country, Staples said. ![]() There are no vaccines or treatments for the virus in people. Older people and those with medical conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure or a weakened immune system are most at risk. ![]() “Some individuals that recover have ongoing neurologic symptoms for years, so it can be very serious,” Kramer said. Vicki Kramer, chief of the California Department of Public Health’s Vector-Borne Disease Section – develop severe disease, an infection involving the central nervous system that can cause paralysis or death. A smaller proportion of people – about 1%, according to Dr. The virus doesn’t cause symptoms in about 80% of people who contract it, but 1 in 5 can have fever with muscle aches, headache and rash, Staples said. Erin Staples, the medical epidemiologist in charge of the agency’s arboviral diseases branch. West Nile virus is the most common cause of mosquito-borne disease in the continental US, with thousands of cases reported to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention every year, said Dr. ![]() Health officials in Florida, Texas keeping close watch after locally acquired malaria cases ![]()
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