{"id":51259,"date":"2020-10-01T19:35:28","date_gmt":"2020-10-02T01:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/first-case-of-west-nile-virus-in-la-plata-county-confirmed\/"},"modified":"2020-10-02T01:35:28","modified_gmt":"2020-10-02T01:35:28","slug":"first-case-of-west-nile-virus-in-la-plata-county-confirmed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/first-case-of-west-nile-virus-in-la-plata-county-confirmed\/","title":{"rendered":"First case of West Nile virus in La Plata County confirmed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=26505cd0-4cef-4401-98fa-39945a37b02b&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"1542\" height=\"1127\" alt=\"San Juan Basin Public Health said the first case of West Nile virus in La Plata County was confirmed Thursday.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">San Juan Basin Public Health said the first case of West Nile virus in La Plata County was confirmed Thursday.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>The year\u2019s first human case of the West Nile virus was reported Thursday in La Plata County, according to San Juan Basin Public Health.<\/p>\n<p>West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne illness that can cause fever, nausea, headache and muscle aches. In rare instances, the virus can cause encephalitis and meningitis and be fatal.<\/p>\n<p>Since 2002, nearly 60 people have been infected in La Plata County, according to SJBPH.<\/p>\n<p>Most people infected with mosquito-borne viruses don\u2019t get sick. However, those who do contract the virus start experiencing symptoms two to 14 days after getting a mosquito bite, according to the health department.<\/p>\n<p>People older than 60 are most at risk for serious illness or disease from the virus.<\/p>\n<p>There is no treatment for the virus other than supportive care, and there is no vaccine to prevent it. Preventing mosquito bites is the best way to avoid a mosquito-borne illness, the health department said.<\/p>\n<p>Residents can take steps to protect themselves:<\/p>\n<p><em class=\"mwc_body_bullet\">Use insect repellent containing DEET.<\/em><em class=\"mwc_body_bullet\">Drain standing water around the home.<\/em><em class=\"mwc_body_bullet\">Be careful outdoors at dawn and dusk, when mosquitoes are most active.<\/em><em class=\"mwc_body_bullet\">Dress in long sleeves and pants where mosquitoes are active.<\/em>For more information, visit <a href=\"cdc.gov\/westnile\/prevention\">cdc.gov\/westnile\/prevention<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>department advises precautions to avoid mosquito bites<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,475,668,686],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-51259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-la-plata-county-colorado","tag-public-health","tag-san-juan-basin-health-department"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51259","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=51259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51259"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=51259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}