By JOLENE CRAIG
Ohio Correspondent

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — The West Nile virus (WNV) has already been found in West Virginia, and local health departments are on the lookout.

One June 16, the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department in West Virginia said a mosquito carrying WNV was found near the Big Bend area of Tornado in Kanawha County. Shaerif Ibrahim, entomologist for the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department (MOVHD) in Parkersburg, said the large amount of rain the area has received this spring could cause more mosquitoes to be out.

“Because of the behaviors of mosquitoes, there could be heavy infestation due to the rain,” Ibrahim said.
Kathleen Meckstroth, director of the Washington County Health Department in Marietta, said it is never too early to take steps to prevent the virus.

“We plan to get mosquito traps out in the next few weeks for testing,” she said. “Until then, people need to take precautions.”
WNV is spread through the bite of certain species of mosquitoes that become infected when they feed on infected birds. The virus is then spread to humans or other animals. The most common birds to be infected are crows and blue jays.

The virus is known to lead to encephalitis or meningitis in humans, Meckstroth said.

“It is not well known that horses can also become sick or die from West Nile Virus,” she said.

Clinical signs of the infection in horses include listlessness, stumbling, lack of coordination, partial paralysis and death. “Unlike humans, horses can be protected by vaccination,” she said.
Dick Wittberg, executive director of the MOVHD, said it is unusual for the virus to have been found this far north this early in the season, and that is a small cause for concern.

“This is what we look for in late summer and early fall,” he said. “We don’t expect this in June.”

It is recommended people remove mosquito-breeding sites from their property. The bloodsucking insects often breed in stagnant water left in buckets, watering cans, rimless tires, unused swimming pools, birdbaths and flowerpots.

“Wetlands are not to be worried about because there are animals in those larger waters to eat the larvae before they hatch and cause problems,” Wittberg said.

Meckstroth said mosquitoes actually prefer small, shallow water to reproduce and that permanent water sources that move are not to be a problem.

“Any place outside where there is sitting water – even just for a few days – is prime mosquito territory,” Wittberg said.

People are most at risk of getting bitten at dawn and dusk. It is recommended they use insect repellants that contain DEET and wear long-sleeved shirts and pants whenever possible, health officials said.

In 2007, of 115 birds tested in Ohio, 22 were positive for WNV and 51 horses were tested, with two infected. Three human deaths were reported from 23 cases.