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West Nile season may be back in Nebraska – and sooner than usual. The Douglas County Health Department had planned to hold off messaging about the mosquito-borne disease – until Iowa confirmed its first case on Thursday.
“Usually, we see our first cases in July or August, but we do know that our friends in Iowa already have a case this year," said Phil Rooney, Douglas County Health Department spokesman. "As I may have suggested earlier, we never really know what to expect, but we do know how to address it.”
About 1 in 5 people infected with West Nile develops symptoms, and about 1 in 150 develops serious – and sometimes fatal – illnesses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rooney said Nebraskans should make sure to wear bug spray with DEET, a chemical that repels mosquitoes. They should also think about long sleeves when outdoors near dusk or dawn and report standing water, where mosquitoes breed, to the health department for treatment.
The disease is sometimes perplexing for public health officials, Rooney said. In 2018, Nebraska had the highest West Nile case count in the nation with 251 human cases. In the last two years, however, the state saw significant drops – 28 and 15 human cases in 2019 and 2020, respectively – as has the rest of the country.
"It really is a mystery," Rooney said. "It’s maybe where the flocks of birds fly because the birds carry it, the mosquitoes feed off them and the mosquitoes take it from birds to us. So, it really remains a mystery.”