The Center for Disease Control has been vigilant in providing information regarding the West Nile Virus that has been plaguing several areas in the United States. Just this month, 2 people died due to the complications resulting from the disease, one each from Sacramento and Shasta counties.
On the same note, there have been 16 reported cases just for this week alone. While this may be a question of debate on the severity of the numbers reported, it should be noted that these only include the symptomatic cases meaning that there are probably more infected, but are still not reacting to the infection.
It is known that the mosquito-borne virus affects and kills birds and squirrels, and is also known to have high affinity with humans as hosts. By this time, there are a total of 1,123 collected dead birds to be positive with the virus. This is in high contrast with last year's 584.
The numbers across all documented cases of West Nile Virus has increased in comparison with last year, all except for chicken cases.
The WNV and the CDC websites have informed through their websites that the West Nile Virus may be generally asymptomatic to humans, but it doesn't mean that the host is not infected. Among these infected, only about 1% may develop a range of symptoms from the milder fever and slight rash, to the more severe encephalitis and meningitis.
What makes this disease alarming is the fact that there are no known vaccines or antiviral remedies to stop the infection. Currently, the best medical intervention has been to alleviate the symptoms, and lessen the risk of further complications arising from the virus' infection.
It is also advised by the websites mentioned that proper measures be taken in order to lessen the risk of contracting the disease, which includes application of topical mosquito repellants and proper clothing during early morning and evening.
