el Don /SANTA ANA COLLEGE • MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014/eldonnews.org
HEALTH
Santa Ana
has reported 54 infections and one death so
far this year.
MOSQUITOES:
BY KATIE PORTER / el Don
54
for possible breeding grounds. Facilities Manager Mark Wheeler identified
a storm drain between the U-building
and Middle College High School that
doesn’t properly pump to the city
drain system.
“Water sits in there. We’ve been trying to pump it out every day. I’ve been
sending my guys out there to get on
top of it as quickly as possible,” he said.
Vector officials routinely inspect campus, Wheeler said.
Many cases of West Nile virus go
unreported because the majority of
people bitten by a mosquito experience only minor symptoms, or none.
“It just goes away in 80 percent of
people. They get it and they don’t even
know they have it,” Billie Ganong,
nurse at SAC’s Health and Wellness
Center said. “About 20 percent are
going to have some flu-like symptoms,
maybe some nausea and vomiting.”
The virus can be deadly, however, especially for children and those
older than 60. In one percent of cases
it leads to encephalitis, a viral infection that causes swelling of the brain.
Those with weakened immune systems
are also at risk of contracting it.
“I haven’t seen anything. Young
people don’t usually get encephalitis,
although it can happen,” Ganong said.
“We have older people on this campus
and our staff as well. So it is a concern.”
Hundreds of children are on campus
every day at the Child Development Center. There are 214 children
enrolled at the school and daycare
facility this semester, ranging from 6
months to 5 years olds.
To ensure protection from the virus,
the Center for Disease Control recommends wearing insect repellent and
long sleeves and pants during dusk
and dawn.
Around the house, repair any broken screens and get rid of standing
water in dishes, pools and pet bowls.
Vector control officials went door to
door in a neighborhood near Santa
reported cases of human
Ana College last week in response to
infection, with one death,
the county’s worst outbreak since West
in Santa Ana.
Nile virus first appeared in California
in 2004.
The drought, combined with heat
percent of infected
and humidity, creates a perfect breedwill experience flu-like
ing ground for mosquitoes.
“This year we believe it has a lot to
symptoms.
do with the drought, and while that
seems counterintuitive, it makes sense.
We overwater. We use lots and lots of
water on our properties. Since places like the foothills are dry, they are
attracted to urban areas,” Jared Dever,
director of communications at Orange
County Vector Control District said.
percent of bird carcasses in
Orange County accounts for almost
Orange County tested positive
40 percent of California’s 375 recorded
for West Nile virus.
cases, with three deaths and 139 infections this year.
Orange County Vector Control District reported more than 80 percent of
dead birds tested positive.
Santa Ana is ground zero for the
virus, with 54 reported cases of human
infection and one death. In recent
years, infection numbers stayed in the
single digits.
Vector control officials visited residents of Washington Square, blocks
from campus, looking for standing
water where eggs develop and hatch.
Dever said a high number of mosquitoes and birds in that area tested
positive for West Nile.
Plans to fumigate four neighborhoods in Santa Ana were postponed
because of weather conditions.
Effective spraying requires low-lying INFECTED / Orange County Vector Control planned to fumigate four neighborhoods in Santa
fog and wind speeds between five and
Ana, but postponed spraying because of inclement weather. / TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
10 mph, according to county vector
control officials.
The possibility of dispersing poison
throughout the city raised concerns
Most commonly transmitted to humans by mosquitoes, the virus can cause flu-like symptoms,
from residents wary of health risks to
encephalitis or meningitis. Those most at risk are children, the elderly and those with cancer or
themselves and their pets.
On campus, officials began looking
diabetes. There is no vaccine for the virus.
80
WEST NILE DEFINED
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el Don /SANTA ANA COLLEGE • MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014/eldonnews.org
CITY COPES WITH WEST NILE VIRUS
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