Two more county residents tested for W. Nile

Total is now 5 who have been checked for mosquito-borne virus
BY JENNIFER GOLSON
STAR-LEDGER STAFF
State health authorities are testing two Union County residents after they showed symptoms of the West Nile Virus.

The pair brings to five the number of county residents who have been tested over the summer for the illness, said Marilyn Riley, spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Senior Services. The patients were hospitalized at various times with headaches, fevers, body aches and other signs linked to West Nile.

Blood tests performed on three of the people determined they did not have the disease, and no one has contracted a case of the virus in the county this year, Riley said.

Seventy-eight people have been tested this year in New Jersey; three of them contracted the disease and there have been no deaths. Last year, a 45-year-old Carteret man died from the virus.
The two being tested in Union County will know the test results soon officials said.

Those tested ranged in age from 29 to 88 years old, but health officials withheld details about the individuals to protect their identities.

The season for West Nile is still under way, and will be until the first frost, when temperatures drop and finally kill this season's batch of mosquitoes, said Carolyn Vollero, bureau chief for the county Bureau of Mosquito Control.

Authorities have been watching for signs of the virus since March, placing traps to track populations - or pools - of mosquitoes. A pool consists of one or more mosquitoes with the virus.

County officials have detected 11 populations of the mosquitoes bearing the virus in seven towns. (Click for map of towns) While the county sampled 91 groups of the insects, Vollero said there are probably more populations out there harboring West Nile virus.

The danger of the illness continues to hover over the state, said Frank Dann Jr., director of the county department of operational services, which includes mosquito control. But he urged against widespread panic.

Last year, two out of six people tested for the illness contracted the virus. One victim was a 78-year-old Westfield woman.

The other was an 81-year-old Cranford man, said local health officer Warren Hehl.. "He said it knocked him for a loop," Hehl said.

A loop indeed, said the West Nile survivor, Irving Wilner, now 82. On Sept. 8, 2001, he went to the emergency room at Rahway Hospital "because I ached all over. I hurt so much, any position I laid in. I couldn't hardly walk. I don't remember a fever. Mostly pain and tremors."

Wilner said he also felt nauseous all the time.

His wife, Shirley, was his advocate as doctors tried to determine what ailed the senior. "They sent his blood all over the country," she said. "It wasn't until five or six weeks later that it was identified. ... They just didn't know. It wasn't their fault. This year they're a little bit more experienced."

It took him two months to recover, and today he still gets tired easily, Wilner said.

Hehl said the township resident, who is an avid gardener, did not remember any mosquito bites, but he also had not taken any precautions.

Hehl urged residents to continue to take preventive steps, despite the cooler temperatures, since people are attending evening soccer, baseball and football games.

People still need to wear light-colored, long-sleeve clothes and avoid areas known for mosquitoes, and wear an insect repellent that contains DEET.

The county invests $740,000 toward mosquito control a year, Dann said. Workers travel around the county, placing at least one trap in a town, eradicating stagnant water and spraying larvicides to kill the insects when necessary.

In Fanwood, workers found West Nile-bearing mosquitoes on July 17 and found containers of water for flowers that were drawing them. "We didn't need to use any pesticide," Vollero said. "All we had to do was drain the buckets."

In Kenilworth, inspectors found two positive pools of mosquitoes on Sept. 4 at the Galloping Hill Golf Course. Tires with pockets of water were drawing the bugs to the maintenance area, Dann said.

Usually, eliminating the source of stagnant water gets rid of the mosquitoes, Vollero said. On Tuesday, however, mosquito inspectors had to spray eight streets in the Tremley Point section of Linden.

There, residents are neighbors of the sollicitans mosquito, Vollero said. "It's considered a ferocious biter," she said. "For this season in particular, we're really having a problem with this particular mosquito. It's not only here in Union County, but it's throughout the counties, Middlesex with Carteret, right down into Monmouth."

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Courtesy of The Star-Ledger - September 22, 20002