Dr. Erin Phipps is the New Mexico State public health veterinarian. She explains the dangers of West Nile Virus and how to stay safe as monsoon season brings rain and ripe mosquito breeding grounds. Here is a transcript of their conversation:
KC:
Well, monsoon season is in full swing and has been pretty fruitful so far for our region. So that means it's a good thing for mosquitoes and they're going to be breeding more and more. And of course that increases the risk of West Nile virus. Let me start by asking you if we've seen animal or human cases of West Nile virus so far this Summer.
Dr. Phipps:
So far, we have not had any confirmed cases of West Nile virus this year. We do typically see cases starting in July, July and August. So we do expect that we will likely see some cases in the coming weeks.
KC:
So what do people need to be prepared for in terms of managing mosquito populations and prevention?
Dr. Phipps:
And so that's an excellent question. So it can be frustrating to try to get a handle on mosquito populations. One thing we encourage is for people to look around their properties because that's something that they can control. They can't necessarily control the field down the street or the neighbors around the corner, but everyone can prevent, to the best of their ability, mosquitoes from reproducing on their property. So if they have things that are designed to hold water, like bird baths and pet water bowls, those need to be emptied out weekly and that will help interrupt the mosquito life cycle. You don't want that water to sit in there more than five or seven days. Another thing that's important to do is to look around your property for things that can catch water. A few years ago, I was in my backyard, and I saw a little toy front-end loader that had a lovely little pool of water in the bucket, and so you know, things like toys, tools, those can provide excellent breeding grounds for mosquitoes and mosquitoes can breed in quantities of water as small as can fit in a bottle cap, so they don't need a lot of water. Other things that can catch water are the saucers under potted plants, so that's another thing that many people have that can unfortunately be an appealing habitat for mosquitoes. Other things people can do is to prevent mosquitoes from biting them, so if possible, avoiding spending time outside during dawn and dusk when they're very active, wearing loose clothing, long sleeves and pants can help prevent mosquito bites. And using mosquito repellents as well on your body and your clothing.
KC:
What kind of signs and symptoms should you be on the lookout for.
Dr. Phipps:
So interestingly, most West Nile infections in people are completely asymptomatic. The person has no idea they were infected, but if you were to test their blood, you could find evidence of it. So about 90% of infections are asymptomatic, close to 10% of infections cause what we call West Nile Fever. So this is a little difficult to tell apart from other common illnesses, but individuals might have headache, body aches, fever, feeling very, very crummy. However, also not very different from what we all experience periodically from any number of illnesses; and then less than 1% of infections cause what we call Neuroinvasive, West Nile disease. So, this is a very severe form that infects the brain or nervous system of the patient. This can be fatal and it can also cause long term symptoms such as incoordination, confusion, seizures, even coma, so it can cause a very severe nervous system symptoms in people. So, while this is a minority of infections, it's not very common, it's very severe. So, it's a very important disease to prevent.
KC:
And we're told that the best way to keep mosquitoes off of you is to use a mosquito repellent with DEET. Many people are concerned about that. What do you recommend for those who are concerned about using repellents with Deet.
Dr. Phipps:
The EPA does have a tool where people can research all of the different repellents and their active ingredients. The repellents that are approved by the EPA have been determined to be safe and effective. So that's a good place to start, is the EPA list and you can learn a lot of the details about each of those active ingredients.
KC:
New Mexico State Public health veterinarian Doctor Erin Phipps, thanks so much for your time.
Dr. Phipps:
Thank you.
You can learn more about West Nile Virus on the New Mexico Department of Health's website right
here.
And you can find information about mosquito repellants on the EPA's website here.
