Infectious Disease Specialist on How to Avoid Catching West Nile Virus
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: For more on what's happening in Georgia, we are joined by Susan Lance-Parker. She's an infectious disease epidemiologist with the Georgia Division of Public Health. Thanks for being with us.</s>SUSAN LANCE-PARKER, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST: Sure.</s>KAGAN: People hear West Nile virus, and I think they get a little concerned, but really, so far, it does seem like it's been more dangerous for birds than it has been for people.</s>LANCE-PARKER: That's right. We've seen two birds with West Nile virus, and Georgia and Florida had several birds, a horse, and a possible human case.</s>KAGAN: You mention a horse. I hadn't heard about horses getting this before.</s>LANCE-PARKER: Horses do get West Nile virus and develop encephalitis.</s>KAGAN: Is it deadly in horses, as it is in birds?</s>LANCE-PARKER: It can be.</s>KAGAN: Do horse owners need to be concerned about this?</s>LANCE-PARKER: Yes.</s>KAGAN: What can they do? We've talked about people and birds so far today, but not about horses.</s>LANCE-PARKER: They can reduce the risk of mosquito bites for their horses by bringing them in during the times that mosquitoes are more active and using insect repellent on the horses.</s>KAGAN: They have that for horses, too? We've learned, from taking about it with people, that those times you want to avoid are dusk and dawn.</s>LANCE-PARKER: That's correct. In Georgia, we do have some mosquitoes that bite during the day. Most mosquitoes bite at dusk and dawn.</s>KAGAN: I think in Georgia we have 24-hour mosquitoes. They are full service. What can people do to protect themselves. Talk about bug repellent.</s>LANCE-PARKER: People can wear long-sleeved shirts, long pants.</s>KAGAN: Which is hard. You know it's hard when it's so hot outside.</s>LANCE-PARKER: It's hard. Then they can use mosquito repellent on their skin during times when they don't want to cover their skin or when mosquitoes are especially biting. People can reduce the risk of mosquito bites around their home by reducing standing water by emptying containers, dumping dog bowls, bird baths, making sure their gutters aren't clogged -- checking their screens,to make sure that they are intact, so mosquitoes don't enter their homes.</s>KAGAN: So those are all places that mosquitoes love to make themselves at home.</s>LANCE-PARKER: Right.</s>KAGAN: Let's talk about why people really don't need to be that concerned, because if a mosquito is biting you, it's not usually an infected mosquito, and you could get bitten but still not get West Nile virus, and you might even have been bitten by a mosquito that is infected and develop some symptoms, but not become that sick. It's really the elderly that need to worry about this.</s>LANCE-PARKER: Most people that develop serious illness with West Nile virus are age 50 or older or have a compromised immune system.</s>KAGAN: So those are the ones that need to be especially careful.</s>LANCE-PARKER: That's correct.</s>KAGAN: Great tips you gave us. Susan Lance-Parker, thanks for joining us today. We appreciate it -- and good example: long sleeves and long pants. Now let's go over to Brian.</s>BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to talk a little more about this for a closer look at the virus and its symptoms with our medical correspondent Rhonda Rowland. Rhonda, first of all, it is a virus?</s>RHONDA ROWLAND, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is a virus. This is a viral infection that humans can get only from mosquito bites. The host for this virus appears to be birds. Still, researchers don't know exactly how it got to the United States. They speculate or hypothesize it came over in a migratory bird or an exotic bird. The mosquitoes bite the birds, and then the mosquitoes bite humans. That's the only way you can get it. It causes a viral illness.</s>NELSON: What kind of symptoms are there? I understand there's one gentleman in the hospital in Florida. He's pretty ill?</s>ROWLAND: He's pretty ill. He has very severe symptoms. But out of all the people who are bitten by mosquitoes, of those who are actually infected, only 1 out of 100 will have any kind of symptoms, and they tend to be very mild: flu-like, fever, muscle aches. Of those people, only about 10 percent will have really severe symptoms like this gentleman in Florida. It's like encephalitis. This is where you get into serious illness. It's brain inflammation, and it can be deadly.</s>NELSON: It can be deadly. That's the thing to keep in mind. Is it easy for somebody to catch it, or is it easy to transmit it from human to human?</s>ROWLAND: You cannot transmit it from human to human. You only can get it from mosquitoes. We have a map of the United States, and I thinks this helps put into perspective just how unlikely it is for people to get this. So far, since 1999, this has been detected in 14 states, from New York all the way down to Florida, including the District of Columbia. And of all those states affected, only 74 people have become ill and nine have died, and of the people affected, they've only been in New York, New Jersey, and now in Florida. So as you can see from this, it's very difficult to get. When we talk about West Nile virus activity in a particular state, that means mosquitoes have been detected or birds have been affected or horses. So you can see it's very difficult actually to get and become ill. So don't panic.</s>NELSON: So if you're along that flight path down the northeast coast or anywhere in the South, what do you do to try to prevent a mosquito bite -- the normal things you'd do -- go out and get some mosquito repellent?</s>ROWLAND: That's right. We just heard a little bit about that. Certainly, if you are outdoors at dawn, at dusk, make sure you are wearing long sleeves and pants -- it may be a little hot -- and use that mosquito repellent and get rid of standing water around your home. Again, don't panic. This is also why it is so important to have mosquito control efforts, and all states across the country are on alert. They're watching to see if there is any West Nile activity because health officials do expect eventually -- they can't say how long it will take -- all states will be affected.</s>NELSON: Should you bring your pets in? Are they affected in any way?</s>ROWLAND: Pets can be, but mostly, it's the birds and the horses. If you have animals, maybe you want to bring them in at night. That has not been a really big threat, and people, certainly, are concerned about that.</s>NELSON: A final question to you. Is there a potential for this to become anything resembling an epidemic?</s>ROWLAND: No, there's usually just a cluster of a few cases. Again, we're only talking about 74 people affected in the entire United States. And most of them may be clustered in particular areas. So certainly, where this man is affected in Florida, people in that area really want to be on heightened alert for mosquito control. So use common sense, don't panic -- you don't have to stay indoors. If you become severely ill, if there is dizziness and confusion, then you may want to go see a doctor.</s>NELSON: Thank you, CNN's medical correspondent Rhonda Rowland. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com