{"id":38478,"date":"2022-09-09T17:50:31","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T23:50:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/west-nile-virus-cases-in-colorado-are-up-this-year\/"},"modified":"2022-09-09T23:50:31","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T23:50:31","slug":"west-nile-virus-cases-in-colorado-are-up-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/west-nile-virus-cases-in-colorado-are-up-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"West Nile virus cases in Colorado are up this year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Rain
Rain moves through the Durango area in late June. State data shows there have been 63 confirmed cases of the West Nile virus this year. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Public health officials are warning Coloradans to cover up and spray insect repellent as West Nile virus cases continue to climb above normal levels.<\/p>\n

State data shows there have been 63 confirmed cases of the West Nile virus this year. That\u2019s on pace to shatter the rolling five-year average of 99 cases per year. About two-thirds of this year\u2019s cases have resulted in hospitalization.<\/p>\n

West Nile virus is most commonly spread through mosquito bites. The virus is not spread through respiratory droplets or fluids.<\/p>\n

Deputy state epidemiologist Jennifer House said recent weather conditions have increased the number of mosquitoes in Colorado, as well as the amount of virus active in each insect.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hot summer that we\u2019ve been seeing could be contributing to a higher viral load in the mosquitoes,\u201d House said. \u201cWe\u2019re unfortunately not done with that yet. The risk will remain high until we have a good hard freeze in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most people infected do not develop any symptoms. Those who do mostly face a \u201cfebrile illness,\u201d which consists of symptoms such as fever, joint pains, diarrhea or a rash. Those infected usually make a full recovery, but fatigue and weakness could last for months afterward. Still, about one in 150 people infected could develop a severe illness that affects the central nervous system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe neuroinvasive cases are the individuals that often end up hospitalized and can have long term effects from the infection. And unfortunately some people can die from it,\u201d House said.<\/p>\n

There have been five confirmed deaths since the beginning of 2022.<\/p>\n

So far, a majority of the cases are concentrated in Montrose County.<\/p>\n

The southwest Colorado county is giving out a limited number of free \u201cdunks,\u201d or insect larvicide, which prevent mosquitoes from laying eggs in water for over a month. Lisa Gallegos, the communicable disease specialist for Montrose, said the tool is also available at many major retailers.<\/p>\n

Until summer ends, Gallegos said there are easy ways to protect yourself against mosquito bites and the potential for contracting the virus.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Coloradans) should make sure that they\u2019re using repellent, which contains \u2018DEET\u2019 in it,\u201d Gallegos said. \u201cIf you\u2019re out at dusk or dawn, wear long pants, socks and long sleeve shirts to protect yourself. And if possible, try not to go out during those times.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you develop symptoms similar to West Nile virus, a test can be administered by personal health care providers. There are no vaccines or medications available to treat the virus.<\/p>\n

For more stories from Colorado Public Radio, visit cpr.org.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Weather conditions likely contributing to the increase<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,290],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-38478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-virus-diseases"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38478"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=38478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}