Patient tests positive for West Nile
Spokane County’s health officer announced late Friday a probable human case of West Nile virus in Spokane, which if confirmed, would be the first in Washington state.
Lab tests results came back positive on Friday for a north Spokane resident who appeared at a local hospital last week complaining of headache and fever, Dr. Kim Thorburn said. The patient, who had been bitten by mosquitoes, had not gone outside Spokane County within the disease’s incubation period.
Thorburn declined to reveal details about the patient or the hospital to protect the identity of the patient, who remains ill but not critically ill and has been discharged from the hospital.
The patient’s lab test will be sent to the state Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta to confirm the results, Thorburn said.
She stressed that “one case does not make an outbreak.”
West Nile virus has killed 362 people in the United States since 2003, according to the CDC, but until Friday, Washington was the only state in the lower 48 not to have a human case. Cases were reported last year in Idaho and eastern Oregon.
The announcement of a probable case of West Nile comes at an awkward time for Spokane County commissioners, who voted June 21 against allowing voters to decide whether to create a mosquito control district. The mosquito control district was proposed by Thorburn and the board of the Spokane Regional Health District specifically because of the threat of West Nile.
“Only a mosquito control district can enforce mosquito abatement on private property if there is resistance” from the landowner, Thorburn said.
She envisioned the district using larvicides in stagnant water where mosquitoes lay their eggs. She determined it would cost about $400,000 to start up mosquito control in the county next year. That would equate to a first-year levy of about 2 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, or $3 a year on a $150,000 home.
But after the first year, district board members could decide the district needs more money to effectively control the threat of mosquitoes and raise the levy.
County commissioners voted against the mosquito control district, saying the state law gives too much authority to the mosquito district board and infringes on the rights of property owners. The law requires mosquito control districts to give property owners notice before coming onto their property and allows them the opportunity to abate the problem themselves.
Spokane County Commissioner Todd Mielke said Friday that he understands the need for mosquito control but doesn’t like the state-legislated mosquito control district structure.
“I don’t disagree that we need to make people more aware of the potential dangers,” Mielke said. “But do we want to create another level of government to do it?”
He suggested that Spokane County examine the possibility of funding some mosquito control efforts through the health district.
“The only thing we would lose is the ability to go on private property. But that doesn’t prohibit a public information campaign or helping people who have lands where mosquitoes like to breed,” Mielke said.
Mosquito species known to carry West Nile virus have been found in Spokane and counties throughout Washington. For several years, the health district has conducted surveillance for the virus, which first appeared in the Western Hemisphere in 1999. This year, district employees have trapped mosquitoes and sent 24 dead birds off for testing. The tests on four of the birds have come back negative, Thorburn said.
“It would be unusual to see (the virus) in a human before it appears in animals,” she said.
The virus causes a potentially serious illness. The disease usually manifests no symptoms, but can cause fever, headaches, body aches, nausea, vomiting and sometimes swollen lymph glands or a skin rash on the abdomen.
About one in 150 people infected with the virus will develop severe illness, which can include high fever, headache, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, weakness, vision loss, paralysis and death.
People typically develop symptoms between three and 14 days after they are bitten by an infected mosquito. There is no vaccine for the virus, nor is there a cure for the disease it causes.
“There are proven actions individuals can take to protect themselves and their families from mosquito bites,” said Thorburn, who strongly urged residents to protect themselves by removing mosquito habitat and minimizing the potential for mosquito bites.