West Nile virus detected in Highland

By DAVID HULSE

MONTICELLO -- New York State and Sullivan County health officials announced on August 10 that a blue jay found dead in the Yulan area of the Town of Highland on July 26 has tested positive for the West Nile virus. While they say the discovery is not a cause for alarm on the part of residents or visitors, the first positive testing for the virus has triggered an upgrading of the state and county preventative and surveillance actions regarding the virus to tier three on the state's four tier scale.

Contracted in humans, a West Nile infection usually causes flu-like symptoms, which like influenza can be more serious among the very old or the very young.

A State Health Department spokesman said epidemiologists are calling for the close monitoring of the virus, not so much because of it's immediate threat to the general population, but because it is a new pathogen to the Western Hemisphere and they have no history here to predict its long-term course. Right now the disease seems to be having its greatest impact on the crow population, he added.

County Family Services Commissioner Judith Maier suggested common sense actions by residents remain as the best response including: the wearing of long-sleeve shirts, use of mosquito repellents and the removal of areas of standing water around the home where mosquitoes might breed.

The Sullivan County Legislature is examining responses to the infection, which may include the introduction of larvacides into some of the storm drains in the immediate area where the infected bird was found. All told, a recent survey found Sullivan County has some 2400 storm drains, Maier said.

State and county health officials are also investigating the feasibility of instituting larval mosquito surveillance. A state spokesman was unable to say Thursday if Department of Health resources for such surveillance would be available

County Legislative Chair Rusty Pomeroy (D-3) instructed staff to recommend alternatives best applicable to a rural setting and report to the Legislature's executive committee on August 17, at 10:00 a.m.

For more information about West Nile, contact Sullivan County Public Health Nursing at 845/292-0100, extension 1.

For information about environmentally friendly mosquito control methods, contact the Cornell Cooperative Extension at 845/292-6180.

To report dead birds contact Public Health Nursing at the number listed above, or the State Health Department at 845/794-2045.