Centre County has seen a slight uptick this summer in mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus.
The state’s West Nile Virus Control Program reported that in July mosquito samples collected in several county locations tested positive for the virus.
Mosquito positives were recently confirmed in College Township near the Benner Township border northeast of Houserville; the Boalsburg area; and Patton Township near the Gray’s Woods Park area. A sample collected in May in Boalsburg also confirmed the presence of West Nile.
The results are up slightly over the past few years for the Centre Region, according to Robert Bloom, Centre County’s West Nile virus coordinator. Last year there were no positive mosquito tests in the Centre Region and in 2015 and 2014 there was one each year. In 2013 there were three, but back in 2012, 19 mosquito positives were recorded.
Elsewhere in the county, the virus was confirmed in mosquito samples in Penn and Liberty townships.
The most recent positive was reported on July 20, in Patton Township, but in the past week sampling has increased and found no cases.
‘Follow up and increased trapping yielded zero positives this past weekly cycle,’ Bloom said.
The county also has the state’s only two avian positives this year, with the virus found in crows collected in Halfmoon and Penn townships.
No confirmed human cases of West Nile virus have been reported this year in Pennsylvania. Humans can usually only get the virus from a bite from an infected mosquito, not from birds or animals.
The virus rarely causes serious illness in humans. Bloom said that about 80 percent of people infected with West Nile virus don’t get sick, about 20 percent experience temporary flu-like symptoms, and fewer than one percent become seriously ill.
Still, people should take precautions when outside.
‘Older people are more at risk because of weakening immune systems,’ Bloom said. ‘People should protect themselves by using insect repellant, wearing long sleeves and pants when mosquitoes are active, and removing standing water on their properties.’
There is no vaccine or specific treatment for West Nile virus and most people who do become infected fully recover. Symptoms in those who do experience them may include fever, headache, body aches, skin rash and swollen lymph glands, according to the state’s West Nile virus program.
For more information, see the Pennsylvania West Nile Virus Control Program’s website.
