Late summer brings mosquitoes, higher West Nile Virus risk

Mosquito feeding on a human host, Photo Date: January 23, 2016 / Cropped Photo: Day Donaldson...
Mosquito feeding on a human host, Photo Date: January 23, 2016 / Cropped Photo: Day Donaldson / CC BY 2.0 / (MGN)
Published: Aug. 30, 2018 at 11:10 PM CDT
Email This Link
Share on Pinterest
Share on LinkedIn

A new map out this week puts nearly all of Kansas in high risk for West Nile Virus.

The exception, KDHE says, is the northeast region, which is in moderate risk.

"The high temperatures combined with the rainfall is the perfect combination for mosquitoes to breed," says Dr. Siddhi Mankame, an infectious disease doctor at Topeka's Cotton O'Neil Clinic.

As mosquitoes make their comeback in late summer and early fall, cases of West Nile Virus may increase.

"There's no vaccination and there is no treatment, so prevention is better than anything else in this situation," Dr. Mankame said.

Dr. Mankame says prevention comes a couple ways -- first, protect yourself by taking precautions like wearing insect repellent, and wearing clothes that covers the arms and the legs.

Then, protect your environment - check your property for old tires, buckets, flower pots, pools -- anything that can hold standing water where mosquitoes will breed. Dump the water - clean things like bird baths - once or twice or week.

The good news is most people who get west nile won't ever know it, and if you do notice symptoms, they'll be minor.

"One in five patients do get fevers, body aches, headaches, joint pain," Dr. Mankame said.

One in 150 patients will get a neuro invasive form of West Nile, which can lead to severe complications, or even death, so it is important for people to be aware of certain symptoms you'd want to have checked out.

"Signs that there has been central nervous system infection are fevers, and then headaches with neck stiffness, photo sensitivity, just being really uncomfortable," she said.

So far this year, Kansas has had two cases of the neuro invasive form of West Nile, both in Johnson County.