Almaden Resident

News

Photograph by Vicki Thompson

Handle With Care: Michael Stephenson, a vector control technician and disease surveillance specialist, tests a dead crow found in the San Jose area. There have been two confirmed cases of West Nile in Santa Clara County.

Almaden not a problem area, but Vector Control stresses vigilance

By Alicia Upano

The Santa Clara County Vector Control District has completed its ground fogging for West Nile virus-carrying mosquitoes in the Campbell and West San Jose areas, and the agency is moving into neighboring Saratoga. No fogging has been scheduled for Almaden Valley, where there have been no reports of infected birds or mosquitoes in the area this season.

Saratoga is the next target because a 65-year-old resident is the county's first confirmed case of West Nile virus in 2006. A Cupertino resident has also been deagnosed with the virus.

There is also a third case in the county, a 53-year-old West San Jose resident. Both men were active and could have been infected at their homes or while outdoors. The Saratoga man is a golfer and tennis player.

"Clearly this news is a disappointment for us here at the district," said Santa Clara County Vector Control District Manager Tim Mulligan during an Aug. 16 press conference. "There will probably be additional cases."

Mulligan had voiced his concern about the spread of the virus earlier at an Aug. 9 community meeting. He said without ground fogging in the area, a "virus epidemic" could break out.

The Saratoga man began showing symptoms--fever, fatigue, muscle ache and a rash--on July 28, said Sara Cody, deputy health officer in the county public health department. The man received outpatient care and has recovered.

The West San Jose man, engineer Kamlapati Khalsa, began showing symptoms a month ago, according to his wife, Katie Cooney. His diagnosis was confirmed Aug. 15 by doctors at El Camino Hospital. Symptoms began as an on-again, off-again fever that Khalsa shrugged off. Then two weeks ago he got a skin rash, followed by leg cramping, constant hiccups and a fever of 103 degrees. The rash disappeared, but the fever worsened and Khalsa was exhausted, Cooney said.

Khalsa's initial blood work came back normal, but Cooney was suspicious that her husband may have contracted West Nile virus, after she recalled seeing a mosquito bite on his back a few weeks ago. Cooney had frequently called vector control to report dead birds in her neighborhood.

By Aug. 10, Khalsa had a stiff neck, a telltale sign of viral meningitis, which is caused by West Nile virus. He was also tested for encephalitis, or swelling of the brain. He tested negative for encephalitis and positive for West Nile virus.

There is no medication to combat the virus once it enters the human body. It has to work its way through. Sometimes individual symptoms may be treated, Costa said. Khalsa is taking only Tylenol every four hours.

Khalsa is sleeping more than 20 hours a day until the symptoms cease. Symptoms can last anywhere from one to four weeks, district community resource specialist Kriss Costa said.

"He's gotten a lot better," Cooney said. "I think the biggest thing is just getting the fever down and trying to heal from this."

Khalsa's case is more severe than what most individuals will experience if they are bitten by a mosquito carrying West Nile virus.

Only 1 percent of those infected contract meningitis or paralysis or are left in a coma. Twenty percent will display feverish symptoms like the Saratoga man, and 80 percent will show no symptoms at all. The incubation period before symptoms appear can range from three to 14 days. People over 50 have a higher risk of getting a severe form of the virus.

"It's worrisome if those who may be really old or really young got it," Cooney said. "They might not be as lucky as my husband."

Individuals who do become infected with West Nile will probably build up sufficient antibodies to ward off a severe infection should they contract the virus a second time, Cody said.

The good news, Cody said, is West Nile virus is "extremely preventable."

Cody emphasized the need for well-fitting screen doors and windows, wearing repellant and eliminating all standing water--even as little as an inch deep.

The district has also addressed large bodies of water such as backyard pools. A July 21 aerial survey showed 212 backyard pools that could be mosquito breeding grounds in Santa Clara County.

Neighbors can find out the latest fogging activity by calling the district's hotline or signing up for email alerts through its website. The email service will notify all subscribers of any fogging in Santa Clara County 24 hours prior to it happening.

The fogging typically follows the trail of dead birds, Costa said, encouraging residents to report any crows, ravens, magpies, jays, hawks, falcons, eagles or owls that have been dead for less than 48 hours. These birds are "reservoir hosts" that carry the virus in their blood. The district recommends residents not touch the birds with bare hands.

West Nile virus season is half over, but there are still 11/2 months of significant concern, Mulligan said.

Last year five residents were infected during the season. But this year's combination of rainfall and hot weather triggered a bumper crop of mosquitoes, and the early onset of the virus.

Last year, three birds in the Almaden area tested positive. A quail, a Lesser Goldfinch and a blackbird were all found within a 10-day period in the area of Almaden Expressway and Blossom Hill Road. Just outside of Almaden Valley, vector control discovered a mosquito infected with the West Nile virus in La Colina Park--about 10 miles east of the Almaden Expressway and Redmond intersection. This year Almaden has not been at the center of the problem, but residents still need to be vigilant. District officials warned that mosquitoes follow human activity and are popular in warm areas. Almaden has a dense population and is typically hotter than other parts of San Jose.

The West Nile virus has been found in Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East before it was detected in New York City in 1999. California reported its first case in 2002. California has reported 49 cases so far this year, the majority in Kern and Yolo counties.