What’s new since last year about West Nile?
As of then: Birds to mosquitos to us; a lot of people get it with the most minor of symptoms, and become immune; no vaccine; it can kill or cause neurologic symptoms; the most vulnerable are the elderly, immuno-compromised, diabetic–the usual.
So do you encourage youngsters to play outdoors in the evenings in order to get it before their immune systems get less responsive?
At what age should one huddle indoors in fear?
Any vaccine yet? If so, for whom is it recommended to get vaccinated?
(I check for standing water, who needs mosquitos regardless.)
My Sweety works for the city here, and he’s one of the guys certified to spray for mosquitoes. They have to take classes every year to keep their certification. The state is very involved in keeping up with West Nile.
One major difference in our city’s approach has been to pay more attention to the best time of day to spray. The Culex mosquito is a “night-flying” bug and so the best time to spray is during the two hours after sunset and maybe the two hours before sunrise; never during full sun (the chemical breaks down in sunlight). They also put out a lot of larvicide in swamp areas.
Based on what Sweety has reported to me from his classes, I would recommend the very young, very old, and those with weak immune systems avoid the times of night when the bug will be flying. Me, I don’t worry about it. Ya gotta die of something.
Right, I agree. Since I’m not “very old” quite yet, maybe I should go out and get bitten now, so as to have an immunity later on down the road. Right?
I haven’t read that having the disease gives permanent immunity. Perhaps some temporary immunity…
Anyways, there is a vaccine, for horses. In the south, horses need to be vaccinated about 3-4 times per year in order to be protected from WNV.
Why do horses have vaccines while humans don’t? Because the disease is worse for horses than for humans. Horse mortality rate is around 35%, and much nursing care is required to help horses survive the disease. Also, even after they survive the disease they may suffer some damage.
In humans, only about 20% develop West Nile Fever, and an even lower number end up with severe forms of the disease.
UP here in SARS-ville, it’s being reported that West Nile can be more severe to more people than originally thought. We have a few people who were healthy, young people until they got West Nile last year.
They are still trying to learn how to walk again.