 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
WEST NILE - THE VIRUS, THE
SPRAYS, THE EFFECTS |
|
|
|
Ahhh, the sky. It is so good to see, good to love. Unfortunately, sometimes the sky is filled with those nasty, buzzing bugs......mosquitoes. Even more unfortunately, those bugs now carry a disease that everyone is familiar with: west nile virus. To prevent these nasty bugs from spreading an even more nasty virus, humans have invented something to get rid of the virus- a spray to be exact. The spray would not be in such great use if it were not for the virus, so you can find the background on the virus here: |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
msnbc.com- a picture of the virus, up close and personal! |
|
A little background information for you:
- West Nile Virus is a virus that can, but does not always, cause encephalitis or meningitis, and death from these effects.
-Most of the cases in humans result in flu like symptoms such as fatigue, swollen lymph glands, fever, etc. However, it can have no symptoms at all.
-It is most likley to cause death in elderly people or young children because their immune systems are more weak than teenagers and middle aged adults'. However, although only 20% of the vicitims experience symptoms of WNV, it is appropriate to worry because of thee high rate of incidence in New England.
-West Nile can be spread through breast milk, tranfusions, transplants and infected mosquitoes, but not through touching.
-There is no cure for West Nile, but health care is provided in the form of respiratory help and IVs. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-West Nile can be detected through lab tests, although not immediately after contracting the virus. The test "measures antibodies" in the human's system by taking blood samples or samples of cerebrospinal fluid, found in the area around the brain/ spinal cord. If an excess amount of IgM antibodies ( their proper name) is found, this means the test is positive. (cdc.com) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The virus was not detected in the Western Hemisphere until 1999. The picture below shows WNV in the blue, as of documented cases in 2000. (cdc.com) |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
WEST NILE SPRAY-
No, this spray is not a typical bug spray containing DEET This spray is sprayed in mass amounts, to kill off mosquitoe populations over entire towns. Some of you may be wondering what it is made of..... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Above : red is the documented bird cases of WNV in the USA as of December 10, 2003. (westnilemaps) |
|
|
|
|
|
page 2- the chemistry of west nile spray |
|
