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The Clark County Combined Health District has sent an alert to the local medical community to facilitate quicker human diagnosis of West Nile Virus, and will continue to monitor the mosquito population.
The virus is most commonly spread by infected mosquitoes and can can lead to severe fever, inflammation of the brain or meningitis, according to the health district.
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About 80 percent of people who are infected with West Nile won’t show any symptoms, the health district says, but there’s no way to know in advance if you will develop an illness or not. Symptoms usually show up from three to 14 days after they are bitten by the infected mosquito.
About one in 150 people infected will develop severe illness. The severe symptoms can include high fever, headache, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness, vision loss, numbness and paralysis. These symptoms may last several weeks and neurological effects may be permanent.
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Up to 20 percent of people who become infected will have milder symptoms such as fever, headache, body aches, nausea, vomiting and sometimes swollen lymph glands or a skin rash on the chest, stomach and back. Symptoms can last for a few days to as long as several weeks.
There is no specific treatment for the infection, the health district says, and the best way to avoid West Nile Virus is to prevent mosquito bites.
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