Suisun City Resident Suffers Severe Case of West Nile Virus

A Suisun City adult is Solano County’s first confirmed case of West Nile virus this year, county public health officials announced today.

The resident was hospitalized for West Nile virus-associated meningitis but is now home, according to Dr. Michael Stacey, Solano County’s chief medical officer and deputy health officer.

As of Wednesday, there have been 201 other human West Nile virus cases in 27 California counties, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Stacey said the Suisun City case was among the 1 percent of cases that cause severe neurological disease, including meningitis and encephalitis.

The virus is transmitted to humans and animals through the bite of an infected mosquito. Eighty percent of people who contract the virus will not develop symptoms, and nearly all of the rest develop a fever and mild flu-like symptoms, Stacey said.

Symptoms include headache, fatigue and fever, skin rash on the trunk of the body, swollen lymph glands and eye pain. People ages 50 and older have a higher chance of getting sick and developing complications.

People with diabetes and hypertension have a higher risk of developing severe illness, according to health officials.

There have been nine confirmed cases of the virus in birds in Dixon, Suisun City, Vacaville, Benicia and Vallejo, county public health officials said.

The virus also was confirmed in mosquito samples collected in Suisun Marsh, Vacaville and Fairfield, according to the Solano County Mosquito Abatement District.

Prevention methods include removing standing water, wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants outdoors at dawn and dusk when mosquitoes are most active, and using insect repellant.

--Bay City News; Image via Shutterstock