County takes steps to limit spread of West Nile virus

Stephen Curran

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 | 9:17 a.m.

Clark County is stepping up efforts to prevent an increase in the West Nile virus this summer, embarking on more inspections of prospective mosquito breeding grounds and strengthening its enforcement capabilities.

No cases of the sometimes-fatal disease have been reported this year, but the county Public Works Department has stepped up its prevention outreach programs to test for the disease near large pools of stagnant water, Leslie Henley, the department's deputy director told the Clark County Commission on Tuesday.

A plan to transfer the county's Vector Control, now under Public Works, to the Clark County Health District, is expected to allow inspectors greater enforcement authority, Henley said. Unlike Public Works, the Health District can proactively inspect pools and other bodies of water.

Public Works has long been powerless to enforce building codes governing neglected swimming pools, the most common breeding ground for the disease, instead responding only to calls from concerned neighbors, he said.

By May 1, Public Works officials had visited 210 separate pools, 140 of which were checked for the disease. West Nile is thought to go widely underreported because 80 percent of those who contract the disease show no visible symptoms, Henley said.

Twenty-three cases of West Nile were reported in county residents last year, a number etymologists say generally rises in following years, Henley said. The disease is typically spread by mosquitoes swarming around swimming pools, birdbaths and other large puddles. Although rare, the disease can also be spread through contact with animals and blood transfusions.

Meanwhile an unseasonably cool spring this year has pushed back normally scheduled prevention efforts, which normally begin in March or April, Henley said. Persistent rains this winter raised concerns about the disease because the large puddles create breeding grounds.

Symptoms of West Nile, sometimes fatal in humans, include fever and headache. No deaths were reported last year from the disease, Henley said.