An Onondaga County resident has gotten sick from a mosquito carrying West Nile Virus, and mosquitoes carrying the potentially deadly Eastern Equine Encephalitis have also been detected.
It’s been six years since a human case of West Nile virus was confirmed in Onondaga County. Health Commissioner Dr. Katie Anderson said Wednesday an older adult is recovering at home after contracting the disease.
Anderson says a bigger concern, is the more deadly Eastern Equine Encephalitis, which has been detected in mosquito traps in Cicero.
“West Nile typically causes no symptoms of really mild disease in people who don't have risk factors, and the risk factors would be things like diabetes, or being elderly,” Anderson said. “That's a big one. And that was the case in the individual who has West Nile and was sick with symptoms in our county. Eastern Equine Encephalitis tends to cause a little bit more fear and concern, because the outcomes can be more severe, they can be more fatal.”
Anderson said it’s a bit concerning seeing disease carrying mosquitoes earlier than usual this year.
“Finding of EEE in mosquito pools is a little bit earlier than it has been in previous years, and the mosquito populations are higher,” she said. “None of that is that surprising when we think back to the kind of spring we had and how hot and humid it is right now. So a really wet spring, which mosquitoes love, really hot humid conditions, which mosquitoes also love, and those conditions not only increase the population, they make it more likely that they'll be infected with virus.”
In neighboring Madison County, officials found mosquitoes carrying the Jamestown Canyon Virus, which can cause flu-like symptoms in mild cases.
Anderson says central New Yorkers should take measures to protect themselves from mosquito bites, by using bug spray containing DEET, and clearing any standing water from property.
As for the county, a decision to spray pesticides in areas exhibiting virus activity is a ways off.
“The choice of when to spray, we make in a very conservative way because what we don't want is to make these mosquitoes resistant to our spray, and then we have to adapt to something else,” Anderson said. “You see that throughout the world when people try to prevent mosquito-borne viruses. So we try to do it only once if we have to, twice in severe cases.”
