Irwindale : Encephalitis Virus Found

Mosquitoes carrying the potentially deadly St. Louis encephalitis virus have infected chickens at Santa Fe Dam Park, and county health officials are urging the public to take precautions.

“This virus can cause inflammation of the brain and spinal cord,” said Frank Hall, director of the health department’s Vectorborne Disease Surveillance Program.

“Humans acquire the disease only through the bite of a mosquito which has become infected by biting birds carrying the virus,” Hall said. “It cannot be transmitted directly from person to person or from birds to people.”

Although most human infections produce only mild symptoms such as headaches and fever, in some cases victims experience “confusion, paralysis, coma and even death,” Hall said.

As part of the county’s pest control efforts, it has placed what Hall called a “sentinel chicken flock” in a maintenance area of the park. Officials take blood samples monthly from the “guinea pig” birds, and 13 of the 15 tested positive for the encephalitis antibodies Sept. 17, he said.

To discourage mosquitoes from infesting homes, Hall urged county residents to rid their yards of standing water in buckets, planters, ornamental ponds and little-used swimming pools and to install door and window screens.