West Nile virus has been found in mosquitoes in Warsaw, the state health department confirmed Thursday. Indiana Department of Health spokesman Ken Severson said West Nile virus activity has been found in 12 counties including Kosciusko, three more than the department reported in a release Wednesday. “West Nile virus is always unpredictable, but we expect the activity to grow – in part because we are doing more testing,” he said. Severson also noted that activity was found in every county last year except for Crawford in southern Indiana. Bob Weaver, administrator of the Kosciusko County Health Department, said he learned Thursday morning that mosquitoes at a testing site at the City of Warsaw Street Department, 794 W. Cedar St., had tested positive for the virus. “It’s not unusual as we start to get later in the summer to see some West Nile virus activity,” he commented. The announcement follows the state health department’s Wednesday report of the first human case of West Nile virus in Indiana, in Ripley County. The department had collected and tested nearly 64,000 mosquitoes from 85 counties for West Nile virus and Saint Louis encephalitis, according to the report, and had no positive findings for Saint Louis encephalitis. West Nile virus can cause West Nile fever, a mild form of the illness which includes fever, headache, body aches, swollen lymph glands or a rash, according to the state health department. Some individuals will develop a more severe form of the disease with encephalitis or meningitis and other severe syndromes, including flaccid muscle paralysis. Eight people died of West Nile in Indiana last year, according to the Associated Press. State health officials recommend preventative measures including avoiding places where mosquitoes are biting, using insect repellant, installing window or door screens to keep mosquitoes out of the home, and wearing long sleeves and pants, especially in wooded or marshy areas. To reduce potential mosquito breeding grounds, officials recommend discarding anything that can hold water such as old tires and pots, keeping grass and shrubbery trimmed, cleaning clogged gutters and periodically flushing water in pet bowls and birdbaths.
