A 80-year-old woman in Orange contracted West Nile virus and is now recuperating at home after being released from a hospital. Orange County. Orange County Mosquito Control Director Patrick Beebe Monday said the Texas Department of State Health Services notified him of the case.
The neighborhood where the woman lives is south of Interstate 10 and north of Green Avenue between Simmons Drive and Adams Bayou. Beebe said his department has increased sprayings in the area and will be collecting more mosquitoes for testing.
Beebe also advises people to use precaution and repellants while outside. Mosquitoes are worst in the times before dawn and after dusk. Also, light-colored, loose clothing helps protect against a bite. The health department reports 77 percent of people who have developed a more serious form of West Nile infection did not use a repellant.
This is the first West Nile virus found in a mosquito or human in Orange County this year, plus the county went through all of 2017 without a reported case. Counties regularly send trapped mosquito samples to the state health department to test for West Nile and other mosquito-borne diseases. Once a week, the department issues a report on how many cases in mosquitoes and humans have been reported. Last week the first three human cases West Nile in 2018 were reported in three counties, including Jefferson.
According to Beebe, symptoms of West Nile virus appear from 3 to 14 days after a person is bitten by an infected mosquito. West Nile virus infections usually are mild with flu-like symptoms including fever, headache, sore throat, body aches, and fatigue. Symptoms of more severe West Nile infections are headache, high fever, stiff neck, disorientation, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness, coma and paralysis. If you have these symptoms, contact your health care provider right away.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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