The West Nile virus continues to make its looming presence known
among the mosquito population in Southern California as the number
of infections increases.
Saturating news headlines over the summer, the virus has some
UCLA students worried and others unconcerned as the new school year
starts.
There is currently no human vaccine and no treatment to cure
patients of the diseases caused by the virus.
The transfer of the virus occurs among birds when a mosquito
bites a bird carrying the virus and then bites another healthy
bird, thereby infecting it. Somewhere along this bird-mosquito
cycle, a human being, or another animal for that matter, gets
bitten by the infected mosquito.
“What is happening is as the virus moves into the area
there are more transmissions in the mosquitoes and more birds have
gotten infected and it’s easier for people to contract
it,” said James Greenwood, director of the UCLA Office of
Environmental Health and Public Safety.
Though summer has seen an increased number of human infections
and deaths in the surrounding areas, Brittany Kazmierski, a
fourth-year biology student, doesn’t worry about contracting
the West Nile virus.
“There’s not a whole lot that can be done to protect
against its spread. It would be like worrying about getting a gene
mutation that causes cancer,” she said.
Though mosquitoes are the transmitters of the virus to humans,
not every mosquito carries the West Nile virus.
“One out of a hundred mosquitoes would actually have the
West Nile virus. It’s not as if every bite we would get is
from a mosquito carrying West Nile virus,” said Robert
Kim-Farley, professor of epidemiology at the UCLA School of Public
Health.
People older than 70 or those with weakened immune systems are
at the greatest risk of developing West Nile virus encephalitis
““ the more severe West Nile virus disease, said David Pegues,
a clinical medicine professor specializing in infectious diseases
and a hospital epidemiologist.
By protecting oneself against mosquito bites, the West Nile
virus can be prevented.
“That entails wearing mosquito repellent and clothing that
doesn’t expose skin to mosquitoes … especially during dawn
and dusk when (mosquitoes) tend to bite,” Greenwood said.
“Use insect repellent that contains the repellent chemical
DEET to repel mosquitoes. About 10 percent concentration of DEET
will give you a couple of hours of protection,” Kim-Farley
said.
He also recommends that students drain areas of standing water
or make sure the water is moving in order to decrease the
possibility of mosquito breeding.
The virus which has some UCLA students concerned was first
discovered in Uganda in 1937 and was detected in the United States
in 1999 on the East Coast. Since then, the virus has moved to the
West Coast with the migration of birds carrying the West Nile
virus.
After reaching Southern California, the virus was able to thrive
among the animal and human populations present.
“Generally speaking this is a warm-weather disease.
We’ve had cases that start in late spring and that usually
peak in August and September and then we’ll start seeing a
decrease in winter,” Greenwood said.
For many students, the scariest aspect of the disease is the
lack of a cure and vaccine. Though a horse vaccine for the West
Nile virus exists, a vaccine for humans is still in
development.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases as
well as pharmaceutical companies are currently attempting to
develop a treatment and vaccine for the West Nile virus.
The institute, in association with the Israeli company Omrix, is
testing humans with an immunoglobulin that contains West Nile virus
antibodies taken from Israeli West Nile virus patients to treat
those with the neurological disease of the West Nile virus.
The immunoglobulin is a substance developed as an immune
response against the virus.
There are different West Nile virus diseases one can develop
that range in severity.
Based on a scenario of 1,000 people infected with the West Nile
virus, about 800 would show no symptoms while about 200 would
experience fever, headache and sometimes swollen glands and a rash
characteristic of West Nile virus fever, Kim-Farley said.
He added that based on this scenario seven people would contract
a serious neurological disease and of those, ten percent would die
““ “so less than one out of 1,000 would die,”
Kim-Farley said.
The neurological disease, referred to as West Nile virus
encephalitis, causes an inflammation of the sac surrounding the
brain.
“Inflammation of the brain is characterized by an altered
level of consciousness. … People tend to be sleepy, confused and
combative,” Pegues said.
“Sometimes young, otherwise healthy, people who develop
West Nile virus can develop symptoms of … acute flacid paralysis
when the muscles get weak to the point where you can’t
move,” he said.
Rick Downes, a patient inflicted with the West Nile virus, said
he feels physical pain, has trouble moving and has gone through
physical rehabilitation.
“West Nile and similar viruses are not going away. … The
CDC (Center for Disease Control) and associated organizations must
take a stand (and) provide a vaccine,” Downes said in an
e-mail.
Since there is no treatment, medical professionals treat
patients inflicted with the West Nile virus with supportive care to
ease discomfort, pain and immobility.
“(The supportive care) includes fever medicines to bring
down fever or control agitation and neuro-rehabilitation or
physical rehabilitation,” Pegues said.
“I would anticipate several years for a human vaccine to
pass FDA requirements,” Kim-Farley said.