Fewer cases of West Nile surface

A year after Idaho led the nation in West Nile virus cases and logged 23 deaths related to the infection, state health officials are basking in a reprieve of the mosquito-borne illness.

Likely contributing to the decline were a hot, dry year that limited mosquito breeding, a decreased population of the birds that carry the infection and greater human attention to prevention, health officials said.

“People, we think, are actually listening closely to the ‘Fight the Bite’ message and taking precautions,” said Tom Shanahan, a spokesman for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

Only 103 cases of West Nile infection have been reported in Idaho this year – 10 percent of the more than 1,000 that swamped the state in 2006. Eight cases of the most serious form of West Nile, neuroinvasive disease, have been reported, down from 171 last year, health officials said.

“We’re actually ecstatic that we’re not seeing the illnesses that we saw last year,” Shanahan said.

In Washington, infection was limited to one infected bird and eight infected horses. In 2006, the state became the last in the nation to log West Nile cases when the infection was confirmed in three people.

In Idaho, the state’s single death from West Nile was reported this month, when a woman in her 70s in Payette County succumbed to complications of the infection, Shanahan said.

Health officials expressed sadness at the loss even as they were relieved that this year’s outbreak wasn’t more widespread.

The mild year in Idaho and across Washington sparked relief and anxiety in health officials, said Cynthia Taggart, spokeswoman for the Panhandle Health District.

“We were so primed and ready,” she said.

“It’s a little worrisome for next year because you don’t want people to think you’re crying wolf.”

Just because West Nile wasn’t serious this year doesn’t predict anything about the future.

Health experts fully expect a serious outbreak in North Idaho and Washington.

“Some years may be worse than others, but West Nile is here to stay,” said Dorothy Tibbetts, manager of the zoonotic disease program at the Washington State Department of Health.

“We can all do things to guard against West Nile infection. The key is avoiding mosquito bites.”

Mosquitoes contract West Nile from infected birds, typically corvids – such as crows, ravens and jays – and then transmit the virus to other animals, such as horses, dogs and people.