ONTARIO, Ohio — Richland Public Health (RPH) confirmed the presence of West Nile virus in a mosquito pool (testing sample) taken from the southwest area in Ontario. This means that West Nile virus is present in Richland County, though no person has been infected.
Matt Work, director of Environmental Health at RPH, said the testing was conducted approximately two weeks ago and the results came in Friday, June 26.
“That was the first pool we had this year that’s come back positive [for West Nile virus],” he said.
Samples are taken as part of RPH’s mosquito program. “We do systematic sampling, especially in populated areas,” he said. “All over the county we have different areas where we set up mosquito traps and we trap once or twice a week, at least, in those areas.”
Work said everyone throughout the county should take precautionary measures to protect him or herself from contracting this virus.
West Nile virus is a spread by the bite of an infected mosquito. While most people will show no symptoms, it can lead to West Nile fever or severe West Nile disease.
Richland County had a confirmed case of West Nile virus in 2012 but none since then.
According to a press release by RPH:
- Most people (about four out of five) who are infected with WNV will not develop any type of illness. However, you cannot know ahead of time if you’ll get sick or not when infected.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that about 20 percent of people who become infected with WNV will develop West Nile fever. Symptoms include fever, headache, tiredness, and body aches, occasionally with a skin rash and swollen lymph glands. While the illness can be as short as a few days, even healthy people have reported being sick for several weeks.
- CDC estimates that approximately one in 150 persons infected with WNV will develop a more severe form of disease such as West Nile encephalitis or meningitis or West Nile poliomyelitis.
- Severe symptoms include headache, high fever, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness and paralysis.
- Serious illness can occur in people of any age, however people over age 50 and those with medical conditions (for example, transplant patients) are at the highest risk for getting severely ill when infected with WNV.
To avoid possible mosquito bites, RPH says:
- Typically, mosquitoes are most active between dusk and dawn (roughly between 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. during summers in Ohio). However, mosquitoes known to cause California La Crosse encephalitis/meningitis also bite during the daylight hours.
- When outdoors, be sure to wear long pants, long-sleeved shirts, shoes, and socks. Light colors are less attractive to mosquitoes.
- Use insect repellent containing DEET, picaridin or lemon eucalyptus oil. Follow label directions especially when applying to young children; usually a concentration of 30 percent DEET for adults and 10 percent or less for children is effective.
To eliminate mosquito breeding sites near your home, RPH recommends:
- Recycle all unused tires or make sure they are not holding water. Each tire can become a breeding area for thousands of mosquitoes.
- Eliminate all water-holding containers, such as tin cans and unused flowerpots, from your property.
- Eliminate or drain water features or areas on your property where standing water lasts more than seven days.
- Make sure all roof gutters are clean and drain properly.
- Clean and chlorinate pools, outdoor saunas and hot tubs. Keep them empty when not in use and drain water from pool covers.
- Change water in birdbaths weekly.
- Change water in kiddie pools regularly and eliminate standing water that collects around the edges of the pools.
According to the press release, Richland Public Health is conducting weekly mosquito spraying in contracted areas and that includes the City of Ontario. Ontario north of Fourth Street was sprayed on Tuesday, June 16. Ontario is scheduled for spraying on July 2, but that will be moved to July 1 if rain is possible on Thursday. Weekly sprayings are posted every Friday on the health department website.
More information on mosquitoes is available at the Richland Public Health website or by calling the Environmental Health Division at 419-774-4520.
More information on mosquitoes is available at the Richland Public Health website or by calling the Environmental Health Division at 419-774-4520.
