West nile virus surveillance bc

Most people who develop symptoms will experience varying degrees of an illness known as West Nile Non-neurological Syndrome. Even non-neurological forms of the disease may cause lasting health effects, including muscle weakness, memory problems and fatigue which may continue for months.

The symptoms of West Nile non-neurological syndrome include some or all of the following:. In less than one per cent of infected individuals about one in , WNV can cause severe illness resulting in hospitalization. This is called West Nile neurological syndrome and includes swelling of the brain encephalitis , inflammation of the lining of the brain meningitis or paralysis. For people who develop West Nile neurological syndrome, about 10 per cent die.

West Nile neurological syndrome includes some or all of the following symptoms:. Symptoms begin approximately three to 14 days after being bitten by an infected mosquito. Recovery from symptoms may occur in about a week with West Nile non-neuorological syndrome and may take a year or more for West Nile neurological syndrome. Who is at risk for WNV? Everyone who is outside during the summer months gardening, golfing, walking, camping etc.

While anyone can be infected with WNV, the chances of having a severe illness are greater as you get older, even if you are healthy. You may also be at greater risk if you have a weakened immune system. How can I protect myself and my family when we are outdoors? Avoid being out from dusk to dawn if you can because mosquitoes that carry WNV tend to be most active at these times. Wear protective clothing, especially outside in the early evening and at dawn.

This includes long-sleeve shirts or jackets and long pants that mosquitoes cannot bite through. Tuck your pants into socks for extra protection. How can I help prevent WNV in my neighbourhood? Unlike birds or other insects, most mosquitoes do not fly very far and tend to stay close to their breeding sites. You are most likely to be bitten by a mosquito from your own backyard.

There are many simple things you can do to reduce the number of mosquitoes in and around your property. See the WNV brochure for more tips. These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Journal List Emerg Infect Dis v. Emerg Infect Dis. Hadler , R. Nelson , T. McCarthy , T. Andreadis , M. Lis , R. French , W. Serosurvey and experimental infection data suggest that both chickens and pigeons show promise as useful captive sentinels; both species were naturally exposed during the epizootics in New York City, , and both species develop antibodies after infection without becoming highly infectious to Culex pipiens vectors.

Wild bird species that should be targeted for use as free-ranging sentinels include house sparrows and pigeons. The ideal wild bird should be determined locally on the basis of seroprevalence studies. Interpreting serological data generated from studies using free-ranging sentinel birds is complex, however.