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West Nile officially declared an outbreak in Southern Nevada


West Nile officially declared an outbreak in Southern Nevada
West Nile officially declared an outbreak in Southern Nevada
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It’s officially an outbreak. There are more West Nile cases in Southern Nevada this year than ever before and mosquito season is far from over.

There’s no clear cut answer as to why it’s so bad this year, but out of the nearly 40,000 mosquitoes the Southern Nevada Health District has tested all across the valley, 20 percent are carrying the virus.

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“So think about that, one in every five mosquitoes is carrying a virus,” said Devin Raman, MPH. She’s a Senior Disease Investigation and Intervention Specialist in the Office of Epidemiology with the Southern Nevada Health District.

She said the district has confirmed 28 cases so far this season, more than most other states. “There are people at all levels of illness that we know are not reported to us.”

West Nile causes flu-like symptoms, which is why Raman said many cases go unconfirmed. But, 17 cases in Southern Nevada have presented as a more serious neuroinvasive form of the disease.

Raman said, “The virus actually gets up into the brain and the spinal cord and it causes things like meningitis and encephalitis. It can cause paralysis.”

So where are the mosquitoes coming from? “Mosquitoes are terrible fliers. 100 yards is a long way for them to go, so if you have mosquitoes, they’re local,” said Allen Gibbs. He’s a professor at UNLV in the School of Life Sciences. He studies insects.

Gibbs said mosquitoes have a lifespan of about a month and it doesn’t take much for them to move in. “Just this much water and you can grow mosquitoes, so if you over water your plants and leave standing water, you can be a mosquito farmer,” he said.

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But why so many are carrying this potentially deadly virus, the Southern Nevada Health District said its hard to predict one year to the next because West Nile is carried in by migratory birds which the mosquitoes feed on.

What can you do?

You’ve heard it before.

Spray where you can with DEET, remove all standing water and cover up with long sleeves and pants when outside.

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