The West Nile Virus Was Detected In Delaware And The Threat Is Real

The West Nile Virus Was Detected In Delaware And The Threat Is Real
SHARE

The officials announced that for the first time in this year there’s been found two viruses which may be harmful to humans. The viruses were found in sentinel chickens, in Delaware and they were transmitted by mosquitoes.

The West Nile virus was found near the Delaware River in two different areas: Wilmington and Kent County (in the west central zone).  They have put the chicken in cages and took blood samples to see if they have the viruses and the both areas received a positive test.

In the North-West area of the New Castle County, officials found a wild crow which had the West Nile virus.

Another virus, the eastern equine encephalitis was found in the blood samples taken from a sentinel chicken in the South-West area of the New Castle County.

Fortunately, the viruses haven’t reached to humans or horses. But there is a risk of getting infected from mosquitoes which have the viruses and the period people should avoid getting in contact with the outdoors where there are a lot of mosquitos ranges from mid-August to mid-October.

Every two weeks the chickens are tested to see if they got any of the above viruses. Last year from all the sentinel chickens, seven of them had been found to have the West Nile virus, but last year no one got infected. In 2016 the virus has infected 2,038 people in New Castle County and 94 people lost their lives.

The West Nile virus appeared in 2001 in Delaware and in 2003 there’s been 17 people infected, out of which 2 died.

There are several solutions which can help you protect yourself from mosquitoes: avoid walking near places that are close to water, drain anything in your areas like buckets of water, bird baths, rain gutters, so that mosquitoes won’t breed and with their number reduced, so it the chance for transmission.

 


SHARE

I am a pop culture and social media expert. Aside from writing about the latest news health, I also enjoy pop culture and Yoga. I have BA in American Cultural Studies and currently enrolled in a Mass-Media MA program. I like to spend my spring breaks volunteering overseas.

Post Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.