The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.

The West Nile Threat

Dessa Rodeffer, Quill Publisher

27 August 2003

Last Thursday I had stopped at the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Rochester, MN before leaving for home from my Mayo Clinic checkup.

I ran across a book entitled "The New Killer Diseases: How the Alarming Evolution of Mutant Germs Threatens us All". The cover mentioned West Nile and it caught my eye and I pulled if off the shelf.

Before I knew it I was engrossed in this book. It was copyrighted July 2003 and talked about the first West Nile cases and how birds were the carrier.

It was fascinating reading that New York had been hit with some of the first cases/fatalities of this disease prior to Sept. 11th and that Mayor Giuliani was busy with an all-out war against mosquitos which transmits the disease from infected birds to people.

The book detailed the uncovering of water standing, of mosquito eggs, of mosquito traps, of nightly sprayings in the city, and of death and illness of people who had contacted West Nile.

I finally decided to put the book down and check it out at the local library when I got home due to the 5 hour drive ahead of me.

I arrived home that evening and the following morning I opened the front door to water my flowers and at my feet was a dead blue jay right at my front door!

I screamed and slammed the door and immediately called the Henderson County Health Department.

Knowing we have had two West Nile cases in the county, I was planning on calling them to do a story about their involvement but didn't expect it to start from a dead bird at my door.

I found Jenna Link, who is the specialist in charge of environmental issues and she came within the hour to pick up the bird and send it to Dept. of Ag lab in Galesburg for testing.

Tuesday morning she was notified it was positive for West Nile Virus, the third to be found in Henderson County. She already had set mosquito traps near my home which tested negative and she will return to set more traps. Since July 28th, she has set traps in Lomax, Gladstone Lake, Oquawka, Biggsville, and Shokokon, and Stronghurst

Jenna says take caution. Empty bird baths weekly, eliminate standing water, stay inside at dawn and dusk, wear appropriate clothing and apply a repellant that has 20% DEET. For questions, call her direct at 309-627-9722. A $10,000 grant is helping with this project which goes thru Sept. and begins again in the Spring.