Every summer when the mosquitoes arrive for their annual summer feasting, the same dreadful thought arrives with them: What about West Nile virus? And every year I push the thought out of my mind because clearly the mosquitoes are winning. But when was the last time you actually heard of someone contracting West Nile Virus?
How about this toddler from Dallas: Olivia Lalicker came down with a fever around the same time her parents noticed some mosquito bites on her face and tested positive for West Nile. It turns out the fever wasn't even related to the virus, though. In fact, she didn't show any symptoms of the virus at all. Does that mean it's not really that big of a deal? Have we been worrying over nothing?
That would be swell! It's hard enough for adults to keep the mosquitoes away -- keeping your kids skeeter-free is even harder. I've always struggled with this dilemma. Spray my kid down with potentially toxic but invincible bug spray, or use the weak herbal stuff and risk West Nile? Or just give up because, man, constantly spraying your kids with stuff all summer long is a pain and you're already struggling to keep up with the sunscreen?
There are a few less-toxic bug sprays out there that I feel safe applying to a child. Bite Blocker works for us, but it's kind of sticky and smelly. Skin-So-Soft is almost as good and smells better. And then there's wearing long sleeves and pants ... a total non-solution since bugs will bite right through anything light enough to actually wear in the summer.
But apparently West Nile is not that big a deal. Who knew? Unless you have other health issues or are over 50 (i.e. not a healthy toddler), if you get the virus, you probably won't even get sick. Phew! Because I don't know about you, but even though I know the mosquitoes are hanging around for at least another month, I am SO OVER chasing down repellent-repelling kids. Aren't you?
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Do you use bug repellent on your toddler? What kind do you use?
Image via dr_relling/Flickr
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Comments 50
87 people have died from west nile this year. And that's not including the others who were infected but did not die. I live in Grand Rapids, MI where there has been an outbreak of West Nile Virus and as of now 6 have died. Another 28 were infected but only became seriously ill. Texas has the worst outbreak. And it can infect children and it all depends on your child's immune system whether they can fight it.
You should definitely be spraying your children with some sort of repellent. They also have those clip on bug repellents.
same with whooping cough. If you don't have an infant, it shouldn't be an issue. You see these things advertised and blown up by commercials on tv advertising the vaccination for them. They're just trying to make money. Same with milk. The kids ask me "if milk is bad, why do all the posters say that it's good?" "because the dairy company pays for the poster, just like the car company paid for the commercial on the radio and the jewelry company paid for the billboard. That's business."
878 times as many people die from the seasonal flu each year compared to West Nile. 36,000 people die in the US annually from the flu and children are at a far, far, far, greater risk of dying from that than even contracting WN. The CDC admits that the West Nile virus has never been isolated-in other words it has not even been scientifically proven to exist. I am much more concerned about the toxic, cancer causing pesticide sprays they want to blanket our cities with.
Approximately 80 percent of West Nile virus infections in humans are subclinical, which cause no symptoms. In the cases where symptoms do occur - termed West Nile Fever in cases without neurological disease - the time from infection to the appearance of symptoms (incubation period) is typically between 2–15 days. Symptoms may include fever, headaches, fatigue, muscle pain or aches, malaise, nausea, anorexia, vomiting, myalgias and rash. Less than 1% of the cases are severe and result in neurological disease when the central nervous system is affected. People of advanced age, the very young, or those with immunosuppression, either from medical induced such as those taking immunosupressive drugs or due to a preexisting medical condition such as HIV infection, are most susceptible. The specific neurological diseases which may occur are, West Nile encephalitis which causes inflammation of the brain, West Nile meningitis which causes inflammation of the meninges, which are the protective membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord, West Nile meningoencephalitis which causes inflammation of the brain and also the meninges surrounding it, and West Nile Poliomyelitis - spinal cord inflammation which results in a syndrome similar to polio, which may cause acute flaccid paralysis.
Not all animal species which are susceptible to WNV infection - humans included, and not all bird species - develop sufficient viral levels to transmit the disease to noninfected mosquitoes, and are thus not considered major factors in WNV transmission.....This dirrectly from the encyclopedia. Also I have heard from MANY doctors that the above is the case. No it does not hurt to take precaustions. Though I myself would not resort to using toxic bug sprays to prevent bugs from biting myself or my children as this level of toxicity only leads to other problem. And while the CDC is informative do you really want to believe everything they say considering the the things that have been cause by folling their recommendations? And considering all the diseases that their "research" has lead to?
my daughter is so allergic to any bugs that bite. I switched from the non deet spray, to a 7% deet spray for her, I also use the clip on OFF fans. This seems to work, although she still gets at least one bite every time we go out. She swells so much and is miserable when they bite her. She is 2 and a half so hopefully it gets better as she gets older. My 10 month old doesn't seem to be bothered as much by mosquitoes. If my toddler wasn't so allergic, I might not be so crazy with the bug spray! :(
In every disease there are those who contract it and show no symptoms but that does not mean that everyone who contracts is, healthy or otherwise, will be so lucky. You should be worried about West Nile Virus and you, as someone who's obiously blogging on a public forum, should have some common sense not to tell people to not be worried about it because 1 person didn't show symptoms. You're causing more problems this way - because there are those idiots out there who actually believe EVERYTHING that some blogger writes online and uses it as their version of reality.