County Health Dept. Doesn't Want More Dead Birds

Do not take dead birds to the Kosciusko County Health Department.

Bag them and trash them or bury them, but do not take them to the health department.

That's the word the health department is trying to get out after local residents recently began taking dead birds to the department suspecting the birds may have died from the West Nile virus.

A crow was collected in Plain Township Aug. 26 that tested positive for the West Nile virus. After one bird is tested positive in a county for the virus, no other birds are tested because the county assumes it's also in other birds in the county. Once the state department gets a positive test result in a county, they do not test birds further. Any more dead birds found should be disposed of properly.

State health officials are urging all Indiana residents to take proper precautions to protect themselves from possible exposure to infected mosquitoes, including the safe use of mosquito repellents containing DEET.

West Nile virus can be transmitted to a human only by a mosquito that has first bitten an infected bird. A person bitten by an infected mosquito may show symptoms three to 15 days after the bite.

Most people infected with the virus will have either no symptoms or mild symptoms. A few individuals may have a more severe form of the disease - encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), or meningitis (inflammation of the tissues that cover the brain and spinal cord). West Nile virus can have these symptoms: high fever, headache, stiff neck, muscle weakness or paralysis and confusion.

Most people have the very mild form of the disease. Although the virus has been reported in people ranging in age from 9 months to 94 years, severe disease often has been present in individuals 50 and over or those with weakened immune systems. There is no specific treatment for West Nile virus and no vaccine is available for people.

Daily updates on positive results for the virus and a virus surveillance map are available on the State Department of Health's Web site at www.in.gov/isdh - click on the image in the center of the page.