The summer’s first evidence of West Nile virus has appeared in Elkhart County.
Each summer the county’s health department places mosquito traps throughout the county, at everywhere from sewage treatment plants and parks to volunteers’ back yards.
The health department says the virus was detected in mosquitoes collected in a pool of water at the Middlebury Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Carrie Brunson is an environmental health supervisor with the health department. She says West Nile virus comes every summer but it’s usually not until late summer or early fall.
"It's a little early but it's been a pretty wet year and hot," Brunson said. "Usually we don't have these conditions until July where this mixture of wet and hot is the perfect combination for these kinds of mosquitoes."
The CDC says about 1 in 5 people who are infected with West Nile will develop a fever and other symptoms. Less than 1% of those infected develop a serious, sometimes fatal, neurologic illness.
The health department advises you to take special precautions when mosquitoes are most active, which is late afternoon, dusk to dawn, and early morning. That means covering your skin as much as possible and wearing mosquito repellent containing DEET.
