Mosquitos and Your Health
report by Ed Vincent
Last year in Chicago 203 people
were diagnosed with West Nile
Virus, the State of Illinois
had 813, and Oak Park had 3.297*.
There is now 1 death reported
in Oak Park, Mr. Judah Graubart
died at 57 years of age, one
of the younger deaths in Illinois. Some
of the people interviewed had
a very dangerous time with their
infection, and even though
they are now free of infection they have
suffered incredible damage
to their immune systems and illness
they had years ago have come
back as a result.
Most of people who had serious
reactions from the West Nile
Virus infection were in their
older years. When you think in terms
of the numbers of folks who
were diagnosed with West Nile Virus
it is important to remember
that these were the people who went
into have their maladies tested.
Statistically it is held that many more
people would have been infected
and remained symptom free, perhaps
even immune either prior or
after said infection. There were also
unknown numbers of people who
went into a hospital with symptoms
of West Nile but did not get
checked for the disease. Since there is no
cure for West Nile the point
of having it diagnosed or not will have no
effect upon your recovery so
some folks choose not to spend the extra
money and pain to have the
test run.
Oak Park is not officially giving
numbers of folks who were infected
with West Nile, even though
they legally can (recently they have made
some comment pertaining to
numbers, Feb 2003). The Illinois Department
of Public Health has decided
that they will not disclose the numbers of
individuals in a given town
to the press on the stated goal “preserving
people’s privacy” even when
numbers are the only item being asked.
Oak Park has chosen to do the
same, following the States action.
The Illinois Department of
Public Health does give numbers for the
County and for the city of
Chicago to the press. Using the figures
for Chicago and determining
by inference from them to project the
cases in Oak Park yields a
result of 3.297* persons.
The numbers are still low given
the population, but caution is still a
large component for those with
the highest risks. People over 50,
people with aids or other compromised
immune systems (as we get
older we all get compromised
immune systems), infants, birds,
and horses all are at varying
degrees of risks.
There are vaccines for horses
and some other medications are now
available for dogs as well,
check with your veterinarian for more info.
Mosquitos do not like temperatures
over 105 degrees Fahrenheit or
winds over 10 miles an hour.
Most people also do not like temps over
105 degrees Fahrenheit, though
the wind is just fine for most of us.
Since we do not want to stay
in all of the time during the Spring, Summer,
and Fall there are some things
we should be aware of. Mosquitos prefer
dark colors to light colors.
Mosquitos hate deet and are more active
in their feedings at early
times and late times of the day (dusk and dawn).
If I did not want to be bitten
by mosquitos I would wear lighter colored
clothing, shoes, socks, shirt,
and use deet. I would also avoid certain times
of the day when the little
“buggers” are more actively biting mammals.
I would recommend that older
persons who like their gardens do so later
in the morning and use the
shade of an umbrella to help with the sun. I
would also suggest that perhaps
they bring a portable fan with them,
something big enough to generate
the kind of wind that mosquitos don’t
like (which is anything about
10 miles an hour and something with a
ground fault interrupter on
it since you are going to be outside) and I
would use deet too.
13 people have died in some
ten years of using Deet and many of those were
from children drinking the
bottle. Deet has been approved by the
EPA and is tested at 1000 times
more potent than that which is sold
to humans. ( It is shown
safe to humans over 1000 times in its sold
concentration ). It should
also be noted in comparison that some
200 people each year in the
United States die from aspirin.
Mosquito abatement, spraying
and destroying habitat (standing water
pools) are two things that
will help reduce the severity of West Nile
Virus, by reducing the amount
of female mosquitoes. Last year the
Chicago Health Department was
having small six inch diameter flower
pots removed from south side
cemeteries so that mosquitoes would
not be able to breed in the
standing water. I asked Joe Conlon
from (www.mosquito.org) who
testifies before the United States
Congress many times on the
problems of mosquitos. Mr. Conlon
notes that mosquitos do help
pollinate, but that he prefers bees which
also pollinate. I asked
Mr. Conlon if the world would be fine without
mosquitos and he said yes,
but he would be out of a job. Things have
to be kept in balance and when
he speaks before Congress on the move
to restore wetlands across
the United States he notes that bringing back
wetlands also has the caution
of bringing back malarial swamps which
once covered large areas of
the United States. “When you bring wetlands
back you also have to have
mosquito abatement” adds Mr. Conlon.
Mosquitoes are responsible
for one half of all human deaths since the
beginning of time, by infecting
us with diseases. One half is lot more
than all the wars, tidal waves
and earthquakes combined and mosquitoes
are doing just fine.
This building and others show standing water after three
days of the stopping. This is potentially idea breeding
areas for mosquitoes. This photo and the ones below
were taken in the afternoon from Holly Court.
Oak Park Journal photo
Oak Park Journal photo
When I first noticed large flat
roofs in Oak Park filled with big areas of standing water I thought
about mosquitos. What came to mind at first though was that perhaps
mosquitos didn't fly or breed that high. On my second floor front
porch there are very few mosquitos in the times of the year when they are
most active. When I interviewed numerous entomologists I learned
that most varieties of mosquito feed closer to the ground because most
mammals and other blood supplies have been on the ground for millions of
years. There are specific mosquitos that feed on birds (avian mosquitos)
and these mosquitoes have no trouble flying to roof levels.
Entomologists have also informed us that mosquitos are often found on top
of the Sears tower, brought there by the wind gusts. If we are to be aware
of standing water in Oak Park, and for that matter in the entire United
States, we need to be concerned about standing water on all
flat roofs where mosquitoes
are present. We should establish a monitoring system where a given
rain amount measured at O’Hare (our official weather location for the region)
let's say one or two inches of rain in a given day is marked as day one.
On day three all flat
roofed buildings should have
their standing water swept off to destroy the breeding habitat of mosquitos.
Some flat roofs are pitched and do not allow the gathering of water pools
and could be exempt, but as the photos show these Oak Park structures near
to Holly Court show plenty of water three days after a heavy rain.
Holly Court has many residents in their
senior years and mosquitoes
don’t fly that far to feed. The Village and other governments should
look into roof sweeping measures to be a part of their mosquito abatement
procedures.
If flat roofed structures were
entered into a data base with phone numbers and owners or managers listed,
they could be called and notified when a heavy rain had occurred and told
when they should sweep their roofs of the standing water.
This year should be better given
only the fact that last year we had a new disease in a new area for the
virus, and some either avoided infection or were not damaged by it, but
culling the population in this manner is a far cry from more proactive
measures.
Total
Chicago Cases = 203 14 deaths
Total Suburban Cook County
Cases = 387 18 deaths
590 Total Cook County Cases
32 Deaths in Cook County
The total area of Cook County
is made up of 956 square miles (City of Chicago - 227 square miles and
Suburban areas - 729 square miles). ..Sheriffs Dept
1,451 square miles in Cook
County (US Census)
5,350,269 Total Cook County
Population (2001)
5,685.6 persons per
square mile in Cook County
Chicago with 227 square miles
had 203 cases, therefore .89 people per square mile Suburban Cook with
729 square miles had 387 cases, therefore .53 people per square mile Oak
Park, Illinois land area is 4.71 square miles (3,011 acres)*
*http://www.placesnamed.com/o/a/oak_park.asp
Since Oak Park borders the
City of Chicago, yet is part of Suburban Cook County, we are using the
West Nile confirmed rate of .7 cases per square mile of area (Chicago is
.89 and Suburban Cook is .53). The result yields 3.297 West Nile
cases for Oak Park.
We have interviewed one of the
three people who had West Nile last year.
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