38 replies to this topic

[dconklin]

I haven't heard the virus brought up in a couple years, tho last year there was a big population of mosquitoes too.  This year they haven't found any reported human cases, but all around the area I live in they are finding mosquitoes that test positive for it Of course one of the first things the CDC recommends is DEET -

http://www.lehighval...d_again_in.html

[Mustaxina]

It is inevitable that, as new areas warm up, diseases previously considered to be endemic of tropical regions will spread further away from the equator. This will open a can of worms from a health care point of view, as I guess most inhabitants of temperate regions do not have genes that confer resistance to these diseases (a bit like the Native Americans, who were devastated by common European diseases because their ancestors had had no exposure to it). It's yet another example of the negative consequences of anthropogenic global warming, and it will affect places in Africa as well. For example, Nairobi (I think) was built at a certain altitude because it's above the mosquitos' limit. But if the planet warms up, the limit will move up and reach Nairobi and other cities, infesting them with mosquitos.

[Sandra Piddock]

There are natural mosquito repellents you can use, such as garlic and orange peel, although if there is a real chance of contracting West Nile Virus, it's probably better to accept medical advice and use the most effective repellent. You have to balance up your green credentials with the risks to health.

[FamilyTreeClimber]

We have about 5-10 cases in the San Francisco Bay Area every Summer for the last several years.  Usually, it's in the valley areas.  Even with those case, it hasn't really been as big a deal as it they thought it would be.  If I understand correctly, most the people who have contracted it around here have survived.

I don't see many mosquitos in my area.  I do know as you get into the valleys and up in the Sierras the mosquito populations are much larger.  I've gone camping and been plagued by swarms of mosquitos on rivers.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Haven't seen a skeeter in two years.
(And I still run a swamp cooler, so you'd think I'd have 'em but none here.)
I add about a cup of vinegar to the water about once every two weeks or so. The house smells like a salad for
a few hours, but other than that; no worries.

[dconklin]

Shortpoet-GTD, on 31 July 2012 - 01:07 PM, said:

Haven't seen a skeeter in two years.
(And I still run a swamp cooler, so you'd think I'd have 'em but none here.)
I add about a cup of vinegar to the water about once every two weeks or so. The house smells like a salad for
a few hours, but other than that; no worries.

We would probably make interesting neighbors because I treat my yard with garlic   You bring the vinegar and I bring the garlic!

We don't have them in our yard because of the garlic, but we do have to be careful by the river.  I have seen some Jersey Mosquitoes, but I have heard they are the good guys (or gals) that eat mosquitoes so I welcome them here cautiously!

[FamilyTreeClimber]

This may be a dumb question.  But, how many mosquitos are really carriers of West Nile Virus?  What's the odds that you might be bit by one carrying the virus?

I found one in the house the other day.  I killed it.  I was surprised to see it because we don't have any standing water in our yard.  I guess that doesn't mean that there isn't standing water in a neighbor's yard.

Maybe I should spread some garlic and vinegar around the house?

[Shortpoet-GTD]

FamilyTreeClimber, on 31 July 2012 - 11:40 PM, said:

This may be a dumb question.  But, how many mosquitos are really carriers of West Nile Virus?  What's the odds that you might be bit by one carrying the virus?

According to the Centers for Disease Control, only about 1% carry the virus.
Seniors, people with depressed immune systems and diabetics are more likely to become very ill or die.
Most just get sick for several days.
They also make a strong case against pesticides. (Yay!)
https://docs.google....sXmXRvbrg&pli=1

http://www.statesman...ce-2425637.html

Birds and other animals effected by West Nile-
http://www.nwhc.usgs...ted_species.jsp
http://health.utah.g...heet_061504.htm

[Mustaxina]

The "good" thing about the slow pace at which these diseases are moving north is that it gives time for newly-affected populations to develop immunity to them. A person that has been infected with the West Nile Virus and survived can never be infected again (unless he/she suffers from severe immunodeficiency, but very few people do). Birds and other animals also start to develop resistance to the WN virus, as particularly vulnerable individuals die and are unable to reproduce, whereas resistant individuals survive and go on to pass their resistant genes to their offspring. If you look at the "bright" side of it, it's a perfect occasion to study evolution in real time.

[dconklin]

Shortpoet-GTD, on 01 August 2012 - 03:25 AM, said:

According to the Centers for Disease Control, only about 1% carry the virus.
Seniors, people with depressed immune systems and diabetics are more likely to become very ill or die.
Most just get sick for several days.
They also make a strong case against pesticides. (Yay!)
https://docs.google....sXmXRvbrg&pli=1

http://www.statesman...ce-2425637.html

Birds and other animals effected by West Nile-
http://www.nwhc.usgs...ted_species.jsp
http://health.utah.g...heet_061504.htm

1% is a good number compared to what I would have expected being they have been testing mosquitoes and I guess finding a few with it here.  I read too that now the first confirmed human infection was reported.

I have read that only about 20% of people will actually get sick with symptoms and some may not get any.  And that it is not common for people to get real ill from it.

[Mustaxina]

dconklin, on 01 August 2012 - 08:12 AM, said:

I have read that only about 20% of people will actually get sick with symptoms and some may not get any.  And that it is not common for people to get real ill from it.

Indeed. The West Nile virus is not a particularly worrying pathogen. But what is worrying is that, if the WN virus has been able to move from its previous range, then other, more life-threatening diseases may be capable of doing the same in the future. Just think of malaria. Or the sleeping sickness, transmitted not by mosquitos but my tse-tse flies. Those and many other diseases will blight new countries if global warming continues unabated. There are really so many reasons to fight global warming, but the expansion of diseases is probably one of the most pressing issues.

[dconklin]

Mustaxina, on 01 August 2012 - 08:52 AM, said:

Indeed. The West Nile virus is not a particularly worrying pathogen. But what is worrying is that, if the WN virus has been able to move from its previous range, then other, more life-threatening diseases may be capable of doing the same in the future. Just think of malaria. Or the sleeping sickness, transmitted not by mosquitos but my tse-tse flies. Those and many other diseases will blight new countries if global warming continues unabated. There are really so many reasons to fight global warming, but the expansion of diseases is probably one of the most pressing issues.

I remember the virus has been here for quite some time, but I haven't heard about it in the last couple years.  They used to spray here in NJ because of the mosquitoes and ticks, but stopped it years ago because of the health concerns of the toxic spray.  I don't remember exactly when we first discovered it up this way tho. It is scary to think of all that can migrate as the weather changes across the earth.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

We can deal with it pretty well, but it has been devastating to bird/bat populations.
I know, several years ago when we had a good supply of spring/early summers rains, those poor things were
falling out of the trees like dead leaves.
I thought it was stray cats, but not a feather out of place, no blood-just dead. Cats/dogs are not affected by it.
But it's killed a lot of horses.

Other "bugs" that are surviving and doing great damage are the pine and bark beetles. The winters are not
cold enough-long enough and too many eggs survive inside the pines. That's part of the reason of the
massive wildfires too the past several years; so many dead trees from the beetles.

[FamilyTreeClimber]

I wonder why the virus has pretty much stuck around California but not other areas of the country.  As I mentioned, we get a few cases in the SF Bay Area every Summer.

1% seems very low to panic about.  I wonder how that compares to Lyme disease which is spread by ticks?  I have known people to get that and it can really make you sick.

Shortpoet, I think it's good that they aren't looking at spraying as a the solution to all insect problems anymore.  I remember in the 1970s or 1980s, the Mediterranean Fruit Fly made its way to California.  We were sprayed several times one year.  I can remember the chemical smell that stuck around for a couple of days.  You know what, they still spray in some areas because the Mediterranean Fruit Fly keeps coming back despite their efforts.  They just sprayed in one part of the Bay Area a week or so ago because the flies were found in an agriculture area.

Also, there was that ill thought out attempt to get rid of the brown apple in California.  They attempted a new method of used pesticide pellets that were sprayed from the air over a couple of communities.  The pellet was supposed to dissolve releasing the pesticide.

The problem was animals could get to these pellets before they dissolved and people were getting sick.  I think it was in Santa Cruz where they sprayed.  Within a day or two several hundred people ended up in emergency with the same respiratory systems.  The state denied that there was any link, but it hardly seems coincidental.

Eventually, the program was ended because of the outcry.  It turned out the moth had been in California for about 20 years and wasn't doing much damage.  It seemed the reason to do the project was to satisfy someone's need to give a political payback and to promote the product for the corporation.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

FamilyTreeClimber, on 01 August 2012 - 12:59 PM, said:

It seemed the reason to do the project was to satisfy someone's need to give a political payback and to promote
the product for the corporation.

Nailed it.
Lobbyists.

[Mustaxina]

Shortpoet-GTD, on 01 August 2012 - 11:11 AM, said:

We can deal with it pretty well, but it has been devastating to bird/bat populations.
I know, several years ago when we had a good supply of spring/early summers rains, those poor things were
falling out of the trees like dead leaves.

I have something for bats, so this is really bad news to me. Do you know if casualties among birds and bats have decreased over time? If so, this would indicate that resistance is building up among these populations. As more and more individuals get infected and survive (strong) or die (weak), the West Nile virus should become less and less deadly. It's a bit like the Black Death in humans: if the disease returned and caused an epidemic, people of European and Western Asian descent would be less affected than people from other parts of the world, because our ancestors already suffered the Plague and survived (at least long enough to pass on their genes).

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Mustaxina, on 02 August 2012 - 10:05 AM, said:

I have something for bats, so this is really bad news to me. Do you know if casualties among birds and bats have decreased over time? If so, this would indicate that resistance is building up among these populations. As more and more individuals get infected and survive (strong) or die (weak), the West Nile virus should become less and less deadly. It's a bit like the Black Death in humans: if the disease returned and caused an epidemic, people of European and Western Asian descent would be less affected than people from other parts of the world, because our ancestors already suffered the Plague and survived (at least long enough to pass on their genes).

The problem with bats is they're already fighting with White Nose Syndrome, and that has left populations
vulnerable, all the chemicals being used to kill their food source-insects, and the drought and heat.
Like the bees, they're fighting on several fronts.
They are a species (both bees/bats) worth saving.

See this thread for more info on bats-
http://www.altenergy...se-fungus-bats/

Back to skeeters.

[FamilyTreeClimber]

I heard on the news tonight that there was the first death to West Nile Virus in California.  It was in Kern County which is not near where I live.  There have been 10 cases of infection reported in the state.  When you think of how many people live in California, that's really not a big number.  It hasn't stopped them from doing drive by spraying in Kern County this weekend.

I had not heard of White Nose Syndrome in bats.  Again, we kills something off (insects) because of our own needs and it affects another animal.

[dconklin]

FamilyTreeClimber, on 04 August 2012 - 06:58 PM, said:

I heard on the news tonight that there was the first death to West Nile Virus in California.  It was in Kern County which is not near where I live.  There have been 10 cases of infection reported in the state.  When you think of how many people live in California, that's really not a big number.  It hasn't stopped them from doing drive by spraying in Kern County this weekend.

I had not heard of White Nose Syndrome in bats.  Again, we kills something off (insects) because of our own needs and it affects another animal.

Yeah we only had a couple reported cases in humans, but mosquitoes have been turning up infected during their tests.  I am not real concerned about it, tho a little because if there is a bug it will bite my oldest daughter.  Guaranteed, she has a few bites now that I have been trying to figure out.  It came down to mosquito or spider as my best guesses.

As for the bats, we have not seen many bats here this year as we usually do.  We did see them a bit earlier then normal, but the temps were a bit warmer and I thought maybe that was why I saw them out.  Haven't seen one all summer tho.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Our continued shattering of the web of life.