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2nd West Nile virus case reported for 2019

Posted at 9:01 AM, Apr 26, 2019
and last updated 2019-07-09 00:17:24-04

UPDATE JULY 8: The Southern Nevada Health District is reporting its second case of West Nile virus for 2019 in Southern Nevada.

SNHD says that a female under the age of 50 has the more serious neuroinvasive form of the illness and has been hospitalized. The Health District reported its first West Nile case in April in a woman over the age of 50 with the more serious form of the illness; she has since recovered. There were no reported human cases of West Nile virus in Clark County last year.

West Nile virus is spread through the bite of infected mosquitoes that have acquired the virus by feeding on infected birds.

There were no cases in Clark County in 2018. The Southern Nevada Health District tracks mosquito activity with its Mosquito Surveillance Program, which has already set out more than 1,000 traps since April and caught nearly 30,000 mosquitoes. Once the mosquitoes are caught, they can test them for West Nile and other viruses that can make you sick.

So far this year, the program has found mosquitoes with the West Nile virus in eight zip codes across the Valley.

Once a breeding issue is identified, Environmental Health Supervisor Vivek Raman says his team contacts its trapping counterparts - from parks and rec to streets and sanitation.

"Essentially it's a team of people throughout the valley that are working together to prevent mosquito breeding, said Raman.

Raman says the bottom line with West Nile - it is preventable.

1) Use insect repellent
2) Wear pants and long-sleeve shirts when you can
3) get rid of standing water around your home where you can (think pools that don't have proper circulation and sprinkler run off)

And if you think you have an issue with mosquito breeding around your home, the Health District invites you to stop by for some mosquito-eating fish.

"If you put maybe 15 or 20 in a swimming pool that's stagnant, a month or two later you could have several hundred fish because they breed live."

ORIGINAL STORY
LAS VEGAS (KTNV) -- A woman over 50 has been diagnosed with the first case of West Nile virus in the county, according the Southern Nevada Health District.

The woman had the more serious neuroinvasive form of the illness and has recovered.

West Nile virus is spread through the bites of infected mosquitoes that have acquired the virus by feeding on infected birds. The illness is not spread person to person. Many people with the virus will have no symptoms or very mild clinical symptoms of illness. Mild symptoms include fever, headache, body aches, nausea, vomiting, and sometimes swollen lymph glands or a skin rash on the chest, stomach, and back. In some cases, the virus can cause severe neurologic illness and even death.

The Southern Nevada Health District’s Mosquito Surveillance Program regularly tests mosquito pools for West Nile, St. Louis Encephalitis, and Western Equine Encephalitis. To date, 174 traps were set throughout Clark County with 496 mosquitoes submitted to the Southern Nevada Public Health Laboratory for analysis. The Health District has not reported any mosquito pools that are positive for West Nile virus, St. Louis Encephalitis, or Western Equine Encephalitis so far this season. The program also conducts surveillance for Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, the two species known to spread the Zika virus.

There were no reported human cases of West Nile virus in Clark County last year.