SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — The Onondaga County Health Department recently discovered viruses in mosquitos.
The viruses found were the West Nile virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Eastern Equine Encephalitis is a rare but serious disease. There are only a few cases in the United States each year. Around 30% of people with Eastern Equine Encephalitis die, and many survivors have ongoing health problems. The West Nile virus is less fatal. Most people infected don’t feel sick. About 20% of people infected develop a fever amongst other symptoms. Roughly 0.6% of people infected with the West Nile virus have a serious, sometimes fatal, illness. All the symptoms can be found on the CDC’s website. To find out if you have these viruses, you will need a test from a hospital or your doctor.
Stephanie Waldron, director of environmental risk assessment, wants people to be prepared with personal protection. “You have to, when you’re going to go out in the evenings and dawn time, you got to have spray on,” Waldron said. “You need to, if you can, wear long, loose fitting clothes.”
One of the measures the county health department can take to prevent this virus from spreading is having a summer crew spray larvicide in watered areas. This will kill mosquitoes in their infant stage. The health department is also able to bring trucks out in the evening and spray in neighborhoods . The last thing they are able to do is an aerial spray over Cicero Swamp. Waldron says they are not close to having to use these methods.
