Friday, September 15, 2006     A1, A7

Marin has its first human case of West Nile

    A 17-year-old Novato girl is the first Marin County resident to test positive for West Nile virus, county health authorities reported Thursday.
    The girl, whose name is being withheld, suffered mild flu-like symptoms a couple of weeks ago but is now healthy, said Dr. Fred Schwartz, Marin County public health officer.
    Evidence that the girl had been bitten by an infected mosquito came as the result of a routine test given recently as she prepared to donate blood at Blood Centers of the Pacific. The exact date was not immediately available.
    Schwartz said it was impossible to determine whether the girl had been bitten in Marin County or outside the county, but he noted that within the past month she had traveled to an area of Northern California with a higher incidence of West Nile infection than Marin. He declined to identify the community, citing the need to protect the girl's privacy.
    The West Nile virus, though until now not identified in humans in Marin, has been detected in birds and most recently in a horse last week in Novato.
    The horse was euthanized because of debilitating symptoms, including an inability to stand because its hind legs were paralyzed. Horses do not spread the disease to people or other horses. Horses and people become infected only when bitten by infected mosquitoes.
    Schwartz said the West Nile virus season extends from May through the end of October.
    So far this year, 141 people in California have tested positive for the virus, and two - residents of Butte and Contra Costa counties - have died.
    Symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, nausea, a stiff neck, restlessness, stupor, delirium and convulsions.
    However, Schwartz emphasized that 80 percent of infected individuals have no symptoms and in most others, the symptoms are mild.
    Chris Canterbury, a spokesman for the Marin/Sonoma Mosquito and Vector Control District, said last week that pest control workers had set out mosquito traps in the area adjacent to the stable that housed the infected horse.

    If mosquitoes infected with the virus are caught, the area may have to be sprayed, Canterbury said. Results were expected this week.
    At the end of last month, pest control officers sprayed an area of San Rafael ringing a marshy wildlife habitat area just north of Smith Ranch Road at the corner of Deer Valley Road. Mosquitoes were found breeding in pools of water left over from irrigation and in catch basins.
    The spraying was done after infected mosquitoes were trapped in the area where an infected American crow was found Aug. 7. The crow was the third bird to test positive this year in Marin. West Nile also was confirmed in a dead squirrel found in the 1200 block of Leafwood Heights in Novato. No infected mosquitoes were found there.
    Two additional birds tested positive for the virus in Sonoma County last week, bringing to eight the number of infected birds found there this year.

    Contact Don Speich via e-mail at dspeich@marinij.com

PRECAUTIONS

• Public health officials stress that the following precautions should be taken to avoid being bitten by an infected mosquito:
• Avoid being outside when mosquitoes are most active, between dusk and dawn.
• When engaging in outdoor activities, wear long-sleeved shirts, long pants and apply insect repellent according to label instructions. Products containing the active ingredient DEET or Picaridin are the most effective, and oil of lemon eucalyptus is another option.
• Screen all windows and make sure the screens are in good repair.
• Eliminate all sources of standing water around your property.