An Aedes aegypti mosquito sucks blood from a person in La Plata, Buenos Aires province, Argentina, on March 26, 2024. Credit – Luis Robayo — AFP/Getty Images
sSome people may want to put their summer vacation plans in the Las Vegas area on hold after health officials reported that Southern Nevada is experiencing the highest level of mosquito activity in known history, with more than 3,000 mosquitoes testing positive for West Nile Virus.
The Southern Nevada Health District said in a Press release Monday than on June 6, 91 pools, comprising 3,081 mosquitoes from 16 ZIP codes, tested positive for the virus. Two groups, comprising 46 mosquitoes from two zip codes, also tested positive for the virus that causes St. Louis encephalitis.
The health district Mosquito Surveillance Program has been receiving an increasing number of complaints from residents about mosquito activity, according to the news release. Health officials attributed the increase in reports, in part, to the increased presence of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the area – these mosquitoes bite aggressively during the day and tend to bite people rather than birds. Aedes aegypti tested positive for West Nile virus for the first time in Clark County, the news release said.
For the past four years, Southern Nevada has had minimal West Nile virus activity, health officials said. Only two human cases of the virus have been reported in 2023. In 2019, authorities reported 43 confirmed human cases.
See more information: Mosquito-borne West Nile virus spiked in 2018, according to CDC data
Humans can become infected with West Nile virus if they are bitten by a mosquito infected with the virus. About one in five people infected with West Nile virus will develop symptoms such as fever, headache, body aches, vomiting, diarrhea or rash, according to the news release. In some cases – about one in every 150 people – those who are infected with West Nile virus can develop a more serious, or even fatal, illness.
The last time mosquitoes in Clark County tested positive for the St. Louis encephalitis virus was in 2019, and there have been no human cases since 2016, according to the news release. Like West Nile virus, St. Louis encephalitis virus is transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito, and although most infected people do not develop symptoms, some may develop fever, headache, nausea, vomiting and fatigue. Some people may develop a neuroinvasive form of the disease that causes encephalitis, which is an inflammation of the brain, or meningitis, which is an inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord, according to the press release.
Health authorities have encouraged the public to take preventive measures to protect themselves from mosquito-borne diseases, including eliminating standing water, which can be a breeding source for mosquitoes, as well as using insect repellents to prevent mosquito bites. .
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