Transcript:
Today is the beginning of summer – it's time to swim with the kids, cook with friends, and fight with mosquitoes.
These annoying insects can spread dangerous diseases such as the West Nile virus.
Most people who have infected the West Nile have no symptoms, but some have headaches. In severe cases, the virus infects the brain and can cause nervous system damage.
Hayley: “It can be fatal to be so paralyzed or cloudy consciousness, disorientation, etc.”
Robert Haley of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center said the West Nile outbreak often occurs in winter with little freezing and heavy rainfall.
Haley: “The warm, wet winters then cause the virus to amplify at the beginning of summer, so in midsummer you start emitting mosquito bites and start seeing cases from noon to summer.”
In warm weather, people also tend to spend more time outside and mosquitoes bite more.
Therefore, global warming can expand the risk of the West Nile and make it even more important for public health officials to monitor and control mosquitoes and people to protect themselves from bites.
Report Credit: Chavobart Digital Media
