Positive West Nile Virus Samples Found In Will County: WCHD

WILL COUNTY, IL — A few traps operated in Will County turned up positive for the West Nile Virus, according to the Will County Health Department. The mosquito samples were collected in Romeoville and Bolingbrook on Thursday and in Plainfield on Aug. 11.

So far, these are the only positive result found in Will County among the 11 counties that have now reported positive WNV mosquito samples, as per the Illinois Department of Public Health website.

Although it has been a slow year thus far for West Nile Virus activity among mosquitoes, WCHD advises residents that caution still must be upheld during these summer months.

The virus — which can be transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected mosquito — emerged in the New York metropolitan area in the fall of 1999 and quickly spread across the country.

In Illinois, West Nile Virus was first identified in September 2001, when laboratory tests confirmed its presence in two dead crows found in the Chicago area. The following year, the state's first human cases and deaths from West Nile disease were recorded and all but two of the state's 102 counties eventually reported a positive human, bird, mosquito or horse. By the end of 2002, Illinois had counted more human cases (884) and deaths (67) than any other state in the United States.

WCHD operates 14 mosquito traps around Will County, designed for frequent testing of possible West Nile Virus activity in the area. The virus can be passed to a human being when he or she is bitten by a Culex mosquito, after the mosquito has bitten a bird infected with WNV.

For this reason, the Will County Health Department also operates a West Nile Virus Surveillance Hotline. Report a dead bird on the property to the health department’s Surveillance Hotline at (815) 740-7631 to report it. Residents will be contacted to determine if the bird can be picked up for testing. The most common birds that carry WNV are robins, blue jays, and crows.

County health officials said the incubation period is usually 2 to 6 days but ranges from 2 to 14 days. This period can be longer in people with certain medical conditions that affect the immune system.

Most people infected with the virus will have few or mild symptoms including fever, headache, body aches, skin rash and swollen lymph nodes. Severe infections can cause high fever, stiff neck, disorientation, muscle weakness and, rarely, death.

Property owners can eliminate mosquito breeding areas in the following manner:

• Discard old tires, tin cans, buckets, bottles, and other water-holding containers.
• Tightly cover or store buckets inverted as to not collect water.
• Fill in or drain any low places in the yard, holes in trees, or hollow stumps.
• Keep gutters, drains, and ditches clean so that water will drain properly. Repair leaky pipes and faucets.
• Cover trash containers to keep out rainwater.
• Empty plastic wading pools at least once a week and store indoors when not in use.
• Change the water in birdbaths and plant pots at least once a week
• Stock ornamental ponds with mosquito eating fish or use mosquito larva control products.
• Keep grass short and shrubbery well trimmed around the house.
• Report mosquito-breeding sites to your local mosquito control agency.