Drought could mean a bad West Nile year
By Phillip Reese, Sacramento Bee
Abbey Murphy never felt the mosquito bite that eventually swelled her brain and left her unable to walk for weeks.
“I had uncontrollable vomiting, severe migraines,” said Murphy, a sophomore at UC Berkeley. “I couldn’t get up to get breakfast.”
Murphy eventually recovered from her West Nile virus infection, though it took months. She was one of roughly 800 Californians infected last year during the worst West Nile outbreak in a decade, new state figures show.
Experts say the ongoing drought was largely to blame and predict another bad year in 2015.
Bad West Nile year. It’a nasty bug carried by mosquitos. I contracted a serious illnes years ago called encephalitis thought to be transmitted by mosquitos. I had to have 3 spinal taps at Barton before they could find out what I had. Extremely painfull!!!
Use a repellant when outdoors. There are some natural products that work well so you’re not spraying deet laden chemicals on your skin. OLS
I was sick for a month last summer and was sure it had to be West Nile virus or Hanta virus. Much to my surprise, the Dr. said they don’t test for those viruses ’cause it doesn’t change how the symptoms are treated (or not treated- in my case). So how does the state come up with a # of 800 cases last year when Dr’s aren’t testing people for it??
This is why it is called “practicing Medicine”.