Lately the media has been covering the path of the West Nile virus and its effects on humans and animals alike. This virus is passed through the bites of mosquitoes and at this point there is no other confirmed form of transmission. Birds, horses and humans are the mammals most affected by this disease. The West Nile virus seems to only affect those people under the age of 6 and over the age of 60.

With this in mind, it is understandable that those who do not own a horse or a bird and who are between the ages of 6 and 60 are not concerned about the effects of this virus.

After thinking about it the realization that most college students fit into this category hits like a stack of bricks.

Wooohooo! We can continue to live in our little college worlds without concern for the events happening around us. What a relief.

Forty-three people have already died from this virus. One of them was 14 years old, and one was a man only in his fifties who died earlier this month in Iowa of the West Nile Virus. Fifty years is not that old. At this point in time the United States Centers for Disease Control does not know exactly why certain people are affected while others are not.

There is no solid proof that the only people affected are those who are very young and those older than 60. The CDC does not know for sure whether those people with a compromised immune system are more susceptible or not. So does this mean that it is conceivable that anyone is vulnerable to this disease?

What the CDC, the United States Department of Agriculture and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service do know is that this disease is here to stay. They are also aware that when birds begin dying of the disease, horses follow and when horses begin to die of this virus humans are next.

Does this mean that you should run out and buy as much insect repellent and mosquito netting as you can possibly find? Probably not, it is not known at this point for sure but it is believed that people who are infected may have a certain gene that reacts differently than that of other people who may have the virus, but do not get the fever. Even at this point only twenty percent of those infected with the virus develop the fever.

Where did all of this madness come from? Thinking back the first time that I heard about West Nile was back in the fall of 2001. A fellow horse owner informed me that the virus had reached Ohio and was quickly moving across the midwestern states. My vet dismissed this revelation as rumor.

The virus never came up again until about July of 2002 and even by July 24 Iowa still did not have a confirmed case of West Nile in birds, horses, or humans. Throughout the summer those with horses watched the news closely for information about the whereabouts of the disease.

Before we knew it, West Nile was in Illinois and Nebraska. A call to the vet confirmed the need to have my horse vaccinated and after that I breathed a sigh of relief. Thinking that a vaccine would prevent him from developing the disease, I was surprised to learn that a beloved horse in my own home county had been put down because he had West Nile. Alarmingly he had been vaccinated just like my horse.

There is not enough known about West Nile at this point to provide any guarantees. There is a horse vaccine, but it must be given about every month during peak mosquito season and it is questionable how much the vaccine actually does.

There is no vaccine for humans yet and at this point there is no real way of treating West Nile. The assumption that a vaccine will fix everything may not be true with this virus. We don’t know at this time if it will do any thing at all. Some birds, horses, and people may just be more susceptible to the virus.

Informing yourself will help with prevention of the spread of this horrible virus. The effects West Nile has on its victims is a horrendous sight.

Danelle

Zellmer

is a junior in public service and administration in

agriculture from Atlantic.