The first West Nile virus case of 2018 has appeared in Monroe County. It’s one of the first seven cases statewide this year, according to the state health department. The Monroe County health department said Thursday that “we are entering a period when risk will increase and continue until the first heavy frost.”
The mosquito-borne virus can lead in rare cases to “severe symptoms, seizures and comas,” said Marielena Vélez de Brown, the county’s deputy public health commissioner. Sometimes those cases can lead to death. The virus was fatal for two people in New York state last year, both in Suffolk County, according to data from the state health department.
Most people bitten by an infected mosquito will have no symptoms, while about 20 percent develop a mild flu-like illness. Less than 1 percent will become seriously ill, according to a statement from the county health department.
People older than 50 and those with chronic illnesses are at the highest risk of developing a serious illness as a result of a bite from an infected mosquito, the county health department said. There is no specific treatment for West Nile virus—“antibiotics work on bacteria, not viruses,” Vélez de Brown said—but the health department urged people to consult a physician if they develop flu-like symptoms.
This year’s first case comes more than a month earlier than the first case of 2017, but Vélez de Brown said it’s not necessarily a harbinger of an especially active season. “We really can’t predict based on the timing of the first case or the severity of the case,” she said.
The disease is not new to the area, having arrived in western New York shortly after crossing into the western hemisphere in 1999, said county health department spokesman John Ricci. “In the early years when the population had no immunity to the disease, we had many annual cases locally,” he said. “Over the years, as the herd became more protected, less cases.”
Vélez de Brown and the state health department suggested that people should check their property for standing water that can be a breeding ground for mosquitos and drain it. Residents should also apply insect repellant before going outside, especially around dusk and dawn when mosquitos are most active, Vélez de Brown said.
