Detection of West Nile virus prompts fogging

Mosquitoes in three traps were found to be positive for West Nile virus, Douglas County Mosquito Abatement District Director Krista Jenkins said Thursday night.

In response, the district will be fogging 9 p.m. Friday around Genoa, Carson Valley Golf Course, and Silver City RV Park, La Diago and Long Drive.

The district will take to the skies on Friday and Saturday mornings. Aerial adulticide spraying of around 2,400 acres on either side of Muller Lane west of Highway 395 is scheduled to start 8 a.m. Friday.

“We will be conducting an aerial adulticide application to the east of (the RV Park) Saturday morning starting around 7:45 a.m.,” she said.

While no confirmed case of the virus has been officially reported in humans, Minden resident Steven Mauser said doctors told him his girlfriend contracted the virus. 

He said that she was riding her bicycle on the Martin Slough Trail and received a half-dozen bites last week.

“We thought she had a stroke,” he said. “She couldn’t talk or walk. It’s bad. Not everybody gets affected the same way.”

He said he was told that the virus takes 2-10 days to incubate with four days being the most common.

Jenkins confirmed she has been in contact with Mauser but said that she hasn't received official notice from Carson City Health and Human Services, which handles infectious diseases in Douglas.

A Carson City woman, who was at Topaz Lake on Aug. 2, said she’d been bitten more than two dozen times over the course of three hours.

She said they’d prepared by purchasing three kinds of repellent.

“The camp next to us had every kind of repellent. None worked against these mosquitoes,” she said. “This is the worst in three years.”

Topaz Lake’s campgrounds are outside of the Mosquito Abatement District’s jurisdiction, Jenkins said.

“We have a limited contract with the county to take care of parts of Tahoe and the Topaz area,” she said. “The contract does not include the campground, due to liabilities.”

In order to spray the campground, it would have to be closed for day, since fogging has to be done early in the morning or late at night.

While severe cases in humans are relatively rare, the virus will kill a horse. There are vaccines for horses, but not people.

According to the Nevada Department of Agriculture, the mosquito-borne disease can cause serious illness targeting a horse’s brain, spinal cord, and nervous system

The state monitors the virus and other diseases carried by mosquitos throughout the state to ensure the protection of public health and the agriculture industry.

Residents should empty containers of standing water where mosquitoes like to breed and wear mosquito spray, long sleeves, long pants and try to avoid being outside in dawn and dusk when the mosquitoes are most active.

It has been 20 years since West Nile virus arrived in Carson Valley, according to the July 28, 2004, edition of The Record-Courier.

Visit dcmosquito.org for more information.