The Rock Island County Health Department announced Friday that two birds tested positive for West Nile virus. A dead crow and a dead sparrow, collected by department staff from two properties in Rock Island, both tested positive, as reported on August 30th by the Illinois Department of Agriculture laboratory in Galesburg.
In a new release, the health department reported there have been no positive tests for mosquito samples, horses, or humans for West Nile virus in the county. Officials also released the following information:
· West Nile virus is transmitted through the bite of a mosquito that has picked up the virus by feeding on an infected bird. Most people with the virus have no clinical symptoms of illness, but some may become ill 3 to 14 days after the bite of an infected mosquito.
· Only about two people in 10 who are bitten by an infected mosquito will experience any illness. Illness from West Nile is usually mild and includes fever, headache and body aches, but serious illness, such as encephalitis and meningitis, and death are possible.
· Persons older than 50 years of age have the highest risk of severe disease. The best way to prevent West Nile disease or any other mosquito-borne illness is to reduce the number of mosquitoes around your home and to take personal precautions to avoid mosquito bites. Precautions include:'
· Avoid being outdoors when mosquitoes are most active, especially between dusk and dawn.
· When outdoors, wear shoes and socks, long pants and a long-sleeved shirt, and apply insect repellent that included DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus or IR 3535 according to label instructions. Consult a physician before using repellents on infants.
· Make sure doors and windows have tight-fitting screens. Repair or replace screens that have tears or other openings. Try to keep doors and windows shut, especially at night.
· Eliminate all sources of standing water that can support mosquito breeding, including water in bird baths, ponds, flowerpots, wading pools, old tires and any
other receptacles. In communities where there are organized mosquito control programs, contact your municipal government to report areas of stagnant water in roadside ditches, flooded yards and similar locations that may produce mosquitoes.
