PG County Mosquitoes Test Positive For West Nile Virus: Officials

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — Mosquitoes in Prince George's County have tested positive for West Nile Virus, and an adult in the Baltimore metropolitan area has been diagnosed with the disease, the Maryland Department of Health reported.

State health officials believe the infected person came down with the illness in Maryland, which would make it the first reported case of West Nile in the state in 2018. The virus is transmitted by mosquitoes that first feed on infected birds and then bite people.

Officials said Tuesday that they discovered the first mosquito pool to test positive for West Nile virus this year. The virus was found in mosquitoes in Prince George's County in the Riverdale Park area, according to the Maryland Department of Agriculture, which conducts surveillance of the mosquito populations in the state.

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The presence of West Nile virus in the mosquitoes collected there was confirmed on Monday, authorities said. State agriculture officials will spray within a 0.75-mile radius of the sample, including parts of Riverdale Park, Hyattsville, Edmonston and Rogers Heights. Most has been sprayed but any remaining areas will be sprayed Thursday, if weather permits, officials advised.

“We know that West Nile virus may be present throughout Maryland. It typically appears at this time in the summer, so we are not surprised with this positive finding,” Maryland Secretary of Agriculture Joe Bartenfelder said in a statement. “The confirmation of virus-positive mosquitoes serves as a reminder to all residents to continue protecting themselves against mosquito bites and to conduct backyard mosquito control activities in addition to the department’s routine surveillance and spray activities.”

People can prevent their risk of contracting the virus by doing the following:

• Wearing long pants, long-sleeved shirts and hats to cover your body
• Reducing standing water; dump out rain that has accumulated places like garbage cans
• Using an Environmental Protection Agency-registered insect repellent

What Happens If You Get West Nile Virus?

There are dozens of people infected with West Nile virus in Maryland annually, with officials saying 46 cases were reported in 2015.

While 80 percent of people infected do not have symptoms, about 20 percent of those with West Nile virus have a fever with headache, body aches, diarrhea, rash and/or swollen lymph glands within two to 14 days of being bitten by an infected mosquito. Most people recover on their own but fatigue and/or weakness may last weeks or months.

Fewer than 1 percent of people infected with West Nile virus experience more severe symptoms — such as tremors, paralysis, convulsions, neck stiffness, high fever, muscle weakness and coma — according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It can be fatal, particularly for sensitive groups such as those over 60 years of age and people with compromised immune systems.

Once it is discovered that a person has West Nile virus, the Maryland Department of Agriculture will spray around a three-quarter mile radius of where an individual infected with the virus resides, and there will be routine spraying throughout the state where communities participate in mosquito spraying, officials said.

The Maryland Department of Health will update its West Nile page with information about reported cases.

Article by Patch editor Elizabeth Janney

(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)