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| HOME: WILDLIFE IN THE GARDEN: BIRDS: WEST NILE VIRUS |
Helping Beneficial Insects Lady beetles Damsel bug Green lacewings Hover(syrphid) flies Minute pirate bugs Parasitic wasps Predacious ground beetles Spiders Tachinid flies Hosting songbirds in your garden Grow natives West Nile virus Deer Marmots Rabbits Raccoons Skunks Voles Snakes Garter snakes Gopher snakes Western rattlesnakes |
West Nile Virus is a potentially serious illness, with approximately 1 in 150 infected individuals developing WNV meningitis or encephalitis. Although the Centers for Disease Control estimates that four in five infected people will show no signs at all, severe symptoms can include high fever, headache, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness, vision loss, numbness, and paralysis. Among milder symptoms are fever, headache, body aches, nausea, vomiting, and sometimes swollen lymph glands or a skin rash on the chest, stomach, and back. How is it spread? Although humans can feasibly spread the disease among one another through blood transfusions, organ transplants, breastfeeding, and even between mother and fetus, WNV is typically transmitted from infected birds to humans via disease-carrying mosquitoes. Hundreds of species of birds can be infected with WNV.
According to the National Audubon Society, the best way to reduce the presence of WNV in your neighborhood is to keep mosquitoes from breeding in your yard:
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