{"id":1982242,"date":"2023-07-25T14:02:04","date_gmt":"2023-07-25T18:02:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/is-west-nile-virus-on-the-rise-what-to-know\/"},"modified":"2023-07-25T14:03:16","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T18:03:16","slug":"is-west-nile-virus-on-the-rise-what-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/is-west-nile-virus-on-the-rise-what-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Is West Nile virus increasing? What you should know."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fis-west-nile-virus-on-the-rise-what-to-know%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1982242&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Is the Spread of\u2063 West Nile Virus a Cause for Concern?<\/h2>\n<p>Although there has \u2064been increasing buzz over the spread\u2062 of West Nile virus, the most common mosquito-borne\u200c illness in the United\u2063 States, the \u2064overall case numbers may not be a cause for concern.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>First Human \u200cCase of West\u2062 Nile Virus in \u200dColorado<\/h3>\n<p>The first human case of West Nile virus, \u200dor WNV, \u2063in Colorado this year was diagnosed on Monday \u2063after infected mosquitoes were discovered in 7 of the state\u2019s 64 counties. Mosquitoes carrying the disease\u2062 were also discovered in \u2064Annapolis, Maryland, on\u2062 Sunday.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This adds to the 48 \u2062human cases spread across 12 \u2062states that have\u200c already reported infections to the Centers for \u200cDisease Control and \u2062Prevention for 2023, as well as the eight cases of domestic malaria \u200bthat have developed in Florida and Texas.<\/p>\n<p>Marm Kilpatrick, an ecologist at the University of California\u2062 Santa Cruz who studies \u200bmosquitoes,\u200c previously told the\u200d Washington \u2062Examiner \u200dthat WNV \u200bis the &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/is-west-nile-virus-on-the-rise-what-to-know\/\" title=\"Is West Nile virus increasing? What you should know.\">main public health\u2062 threat<\/a> from \u200dmosquitoes in the U.S.&#8221; and has been for most \u200dof the 21st century.<\/p>\n<p>Although WNV \u200chas been in the United States since 1999, case counts peaked in 2003 at nearly 10,000. The second-highest year was \u200bin 2012, with \u2063nearly 6,000 \u200dcases across the country.<\/p>\n<p>In 2022, there\u200c were a total of 1,126\u200c cases, with over 100 human infections by July and the majority of infections occurring in August and September.<\/p>\n<p>Approximately 30 \u2064of the human cases of WNV this \u2063year have been contracted in Maricopa\u200d County, Arizona, which\u200d has struggled with\u2063 higher-than-usual\u200c counts of the disease since 2021.<\/p>\n<p>The EPA contends that \u2064climate \u200dchange has increased human exposure to\u200b WNV \u200bbecause higher temperatures \u201ccan accelerate mosquito development,\u2064 biting rates, and the incubation of the disease within a mosquito.\u201d Milder winters and higher rainfall levels also contribute to higher mosquito populations.<\/p>\n<p>Kilpatrick \u200bpreviously told\u200c the Washington \u200dExaminer that mosquito\u200d species that can \u2062carry WNV thrive in urbanized environments, and \u200curbanization has \u200dcontributed to the rise in this \u2064type of mosquito population over the past few decades. \u2064He also suggested that decreasing levels of residual DDT, the \u200cpesticide that was \u200bbanned\u2064 in the United States in the \u200c1970s, has also played a role\u200c in rising mosquito \u2063populations in certain areas.<\/p>\n<p>WNV causes serious symptoms in one\u200c of \u2062five \u200cindividuals infected, \u2062including \u2064fever, body aches, vomiting, and diarrhea. Fatigue and weakness from the disease can last weeks or months after initial recovery, according to the CDC.<\/p>\n<p>More severe symptoms, however, can affect the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/officials-eleven-soldiers-hospitalized-after-ingesting-chemical-found-in-antifreeze\/\" title=\"Officials: Eleven Soldiers Hospitalized After Ingesting Chemical Found In Antifreeze\">central nervous system<\/a>, causing brain or\u200c spinal cord inflammation. \u200dThese \u200cextreme complications occur in nearly \u2064one of 150 infections, with people\u2062 over 60 being\u2063 at the highest risk.<\/p>\n<p>Although some experts \u2062are concerned about\u200d an increase in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lessons-not-learned-from-a-vaccination-campaign-catastrophe\/\" title=\"Lessons (Not) Learned From a Vaccination Campaign Catastrophe\">mosquito-borne diseases<\/a>, others say that \u200dthere is little\u2064 cause \u2063for panic. Mosquito-borne illnesses in the United States have\u2064 dramatically decreased, said\u200c Kilpatrick, due to &#8220;mosquito-proof houses,&#8221; with screened\u2063 windows and air conditioning\u200c being a large contributor to\u2063 the presumed eradication of malaria in the United States in the 20th century.<\/p>\n<p>Still, \u200dwearing long sleeves and pants, as well as using insect repellent, can prevent mosquito bites and reduce individual risk. Emptying areas of standing water, such \u2063as in playground\u2064 equipment or \u200bunused\u200c pots, also diminishes transmission risk by eliminating mosquito breeding grounds.<\/p>\n<p>Since 1999, there have been nearly 57,000\u200b cases of \u200dWNV, resulting in nearly 26,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths in the United States.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>detected. Despite the growing concern about the spread of West Nile virus, the recent diagnosis of the first human case in Colorado this year suggests that the overall number of cases may not be alarming. Infected mosquitoes were found, indicating the presence of WNV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1982243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1982242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1982242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1982242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1982242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1982243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1982242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1982242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1982242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}