A dipper is used to trap mosquito eggs, larvae and pupae, according to Dave Zazra, the communications manager for the North Shore Mosquito Abatement District. Image courtesy of North Shore Mosquito Abatement District.
Though the closest report of a person contacting West Nile Virus in Illinois comes from the Bloomington area, the number of mosquitoes carrying the disease has increased on the North Shore and concern remains high.
Since the North Shore Mosquito Abatement District and Lake County Health Department began testing in late spring, the percentage of sampling sites reporting the Culex Mosquito, which carries the virus, has grown.
In Cook County, 148 of 718 testing sites from Wilmette and Glenview on the South through Glencoe and Northbrook on the north have reported positive tests as of August 23, according to the North Shore Mosquito Abatement District. When Evanston, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Niles and Skokie are included, the number grows to 368 of 1,270.
The highest percentage is on Northbrook (37.9) and the smallest next door in Glencoe (12.4), according to the district’s report. The percentage is 31.0 in Wilmette, 22.1 in Winnetka, 20.7 in Kenilworth, 23.3 in Northfield and 29.1 in Glenview and Golf together.
Despite the increasing percentages, David Zazra, communications manager for the district, said the number started to tick down late last week. He said people should still continue to take precautions against mosquito bites.
“The numbers are higher than they really seem,” said Zazra. “We are at the high point of the season. The number of mosquitoes testing positive for the West Nile Virus has increased.”
In Lake County, 41 pools of mosquitoes have tested positive for the virus, including spots in Highland Park, Lake Bluff and Deerfield, according to Leslie Piotrowski, communications manager for the health department. Though there have been no positive tests yet in Lake Forest, she said people there should be as careful as those anywhere else.
“Anyone living in this county could potentially get infected,” said Piotrowski in an email to DailyNorthShore.com. “People should take precautions by draining containers around their houses, wearing long sleeve shirts and pants, staying indoors during the early evening and morning hours, and using insect repellents that contain DEET.”
While there are plenty of mosquitoes flying around the North Shore carrying the virus, only five cases of the disease in humans have been reported in Illinois this year, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health website. The closest is in the Bloomington area.
The likelihood of developing the disease is very small though it grows when people are over age 50, according to Dr. Monica Fudala, a family physician with Northwestern Medicine, in a July 20 DNS article. Much of the time, an infected person will not notice symptoms. When that happens, she said consult a doctor.
“Roughly 25 percent of the people who contact the virus will feel any symptoms at all,” said Fudala in the previous story. “Those that do will have headaches, body aches, joint pain, nausea and vomiting.”
While deaths are rare, they do happen, according the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Last year there were 72 neuroinvasive cases reported in Illinois, with seven resulting in death. Of those seven fatalities, six came from transfusions of infected blood and one from the disease itself, according to Fudala.
Zazra said people should continue to do everything they can to make sure there is no standing water around their homes, removing the breeding ground for mosquitoes.
“If that dump truck your child was using over the summer is still there, take it out of your yard,” said Zazra. “If there is something that holds water (in your yard) turn it upside down and then it won’t hold water anymore.”