The risk of contracting West Nile virus from mosquitoes is highest at this time of year. Nationwide, the number of serious cases is up. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams has more:
Transcript
The risk of contracting West Nile virus from mosquitoes
is highest at this time of year. Nationwide, the number of
serious cases is up. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca
Williams has more:
West Nile virus made its way farther west late last year,
reaching Colorado, and it continues to spread.
Dr. Anthony Marfin is an epidemiologist with the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. He says nationwide this year,
health officials have reported more serious cases of West Nile
virus than last year at this time.
“So we have every reason to believe we’ll have as many cases
this year as we did last year. It’s just that it’s somewhat
shifted, it’s more in the west and the north central states.”
Marfin says early mosquito control efforts in the Great Lakes
states might have helped.
“States and communities that have a large number of cases
do a lot more preparation in the coming year to reduce the number of breeding
sites for mosquitoes.”
Marfin says it’s still important to avoid getting bitten by
mosquitoes, and to drain standing water where mosquitoes breed.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Rebecca Williams.