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April 20, 2005
Beatty at 'high risk' for West Nile outbreak
By RICHARD STEPHENS
"This community we have identified as extremely high risk," said Budahl, because of swampy areas along the Amargosa River. Maxson said the highest numbers of mosquitoes they have found in one of their traps to date was in Beatty. The count was more than a thousand, while the highest count in a trap in Las Vegas was 50. "The mosquito population is hatching more quickly than we anticipated," said Budahl. The good news is that there has been no evidence of West Nile virus in the area so far. Health authorities are actively trapping and testing mosquitoes, testing dead birds, and using blood tests on "sentinel" chickens to watch for signs of the disease. Budahl said the chickens are ideal testers because they can contract the disease but not pass it to humans. West Nile is not a new disease, having first been identified in 1937. The first reported case in the United States was in 1999 in New York. The disease is carried by infected birds, primarily crows, ravens, and raptors, and is spread to humans and other animals by mosquitoes that have bitten infected birds. Horses are particularly susceptible to the disease. One out of three infected horses will die. There is a vaccine for horses that show symptoms of the disease. Of the dead birds examined statewide last year, 150 tested positive for the virus. There were 44 human cases in Nevada in the same year. Four out of five people who become infected with West Nile will not develop any symptoms. Of the rest, most will only suffer flu-like symptoms, and one out of 150 will get serious symptoms as it develops into encephalitis, a brain infection. Those people will develop symptoms like dizziness, loss of vision, coma, and could die. Most at risk are people with compromised or limited immune symptoms, including the very young and the elderly. Those who survive the disease, including those who do not develop symptoms, will then have lifelong immunity to the disease. Budahl said that measures needed to be taken immediately to lessen the mosquito population in Beatty. She said she would press the county to spray immediately with a fogger "adulticide." She and Maxson also recommended the use of a non-poisonous pupacide/larvacide to break the insects' life cycle. This product, sold under several trade names, acts hormonally to prevent the pupae and larvae from developing into adult mosquitoes. Beatty General Improvement District Chairman Brad Hunt also apprised the board of the District's plans to clear vegetation, and to work to keep the water flowing rather than stagnating in the riverbed and in the swampy area around Revert Springs. The District is putting up $10,000, and the Town Board voted to put up another $10,000 contingent upon the county providing emergency fund money to help purchase equipment for the project. Residents can help protect themselves by wearing long pants and long-sleeve shirts, using a repellent containing DEET, and eliminating any pools of standing water, including small ones as in old tires, or flower pots. Some were concerned that measures to control the mosquitoes might interfere with the preservation of Amargosa Toad habitat or might be prohibited by environmental protection laws having to do with sensitive species. Maxson, however, insisted that public health law "trumped" those legal provisions. He said if one case of West Nile turns up, the law would allow them to do whatever was necessary to protect the public health. Maxson said the concern for guarding against the West Nile Virus in Beatty involved more than just protecting the local citizenry. Because the town is on a major highway and is frequented by travelers and tourists, it could, if the virus were present, be the source of a "hidden epidemic" in which people infected here would come down with the symptoms of the disease after returning home or going elsewhere, thus disguising the source of the infection. Budahl said it normally takes three days before symptoms of West Nile virus are detected. In the same meeting, Shirley Harlan from the Beatty Habitat Committee sought clarification from board member Bert Bertram, of statements he made regarding his feelings about the scope of what the committee is doing. Bertram said he was "not trying to be adversarial," but wanted to "find ways to work together more efficiently." "There's nothing negative," said board member Kay Handy. From Bertram's and Handy's remarks, the main concern seems to be that the scope of what the committee is doing may have grown beyond its original mission and beyond what the board itself wants to be responsible for supervising or approving. "We may be looking at the Habitat Committee being separate," said Handy. Board members have expressed the concern that they have lost touch with some of their standing committees, and that they need to be reviewed. They plan to have the matter of committees, including the Habitat Committee, as the only item on the agenda of their next meeting aside from the signing of vouchers. They did, however, agree to put the Habitat Committee's request for an additional $1,500 for the printing of Charette booklets on that agenda, since it seemed to need timely attention and was sufficiently related. The board also approved a letter to be sent to all lodging establishments in Beatty requesting that the correct amount of room tax be collected, including from some agencies that have claimed exemption in the past. This action is based on information offered by the Nevada Department of Taxation, which said the exemption, unless agreed upon in formal arrangement by the local taxing authority, is not valid. |
