Tuesday, July 04, 2000
Danger signs of the deadly virus
Question: Have there been any reported cases in Ohio, Kentucky or Indiana?
Answer: Not yet. No cases of human infection have been reported in the United States outside of the eastern seaboard.
Nevertheless, Ohio and Kentucky medical officials now include West Nile virus detection in their monitoring procedures, which are also used to detect other mosquito-borne infections such as St. Louis and La Cross encephalitis, both of which can also be fatal.
Medical officials say it is only a matter of time before the virus begins to appear elsewhere in America during warm weather.
Q. How do people contract the disease?
A. By being bitten by an infected mosquito, usually the Culex species, which is found in the Ohio River Valley.
Q. What is West Nile virus, and how dangerous is it?
A. The virus causes an encephalitic infection of the brain leading to inflammation. The virus is new to the continental United States and was first detected along the eastern seaboard last summer. Though it rarely causes death, the mosquito-borne virus killed seven in New York last summer. More common symptoms are fever, headache, body aches, often with skin rash and swollen lymph glands. More severe infections can lead to tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness and coma.
The virus is indigenous to Africa, Southern Europe, West Asia and the Middle East.
Q. What is the transmission cycle?
A. Mosquitoes become infected when they feed on infected birds. After an incubation period of 10 days to two weeks, infected mosquitoes can then transmit the West Nile virus to humans and animals.
There is no evidence that a person can get the virus from handling live or dead infected birds.
Humans cannot get the virus from other people nor can mosquitoes pick up the virus from drawing blood from an infected human.
Q. What can people do to protect themselves against such diseases?
A. As with any mosquito- or tick-borne virus, precautions include: keeping screens in place to keep mosquitoes out of the home; wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants when outdoors; using mosquito repellent on exposed skin and clothing, and staying indoors at dawn, dusk and early evening, when mosquitoes are most active.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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