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SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake County Health Department officials announced Tuesday the first human case of West Nile virus in Utah this year.
The infected individual was diagnosed with neuroinvasive West Nile virus, a more severe form of the disease, and remains hospitalized, health department officials said. Less than 1 percent of people who contract West Nile virus will develop neuroinvasive disease, which can result in long-term complications and death.
Salt Lake County Health Department medical director Dr. Dagmar Vitek said the patient is over the age of 50 and was in Salt Lake County and Summit County during the incubation period of the virus — the period between the bite and the appearance of symptoms. She declined to give more information about the individual.
She said this serves as a reminder that Utahns should be more worried about West Nile virus than Zika. In the past decade that West Nile virus has been circulating in Utah, there have been 349 people infected with the disease, nine of which died as a result.
“With much of the attention on Zika, it is important to remember the more prevalent threat of West Nile virus (WNV) in Utah,” Vitek said. “The mosquitoes that transmit Zika do not currently live in Utah, but two mosquito species that carry and transmit WNV do.”
There is no specific treatment for West Nile virus infection other than to treat symptoms, so officials urged people who think they may have the virus to contact their health provider. Symptoms of the disease typically appear within three to 14 days of being bitten by a mosquito and include fever, headache, body aches, neck stiffness, disorientation, coma tremors and muscle weakness or convulsion.
Seventy to 80 percent of people who contract West Nile virus do not develop any symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
People over age 50 and people with weakened immune systems are at the highest risk of illness as a result of West Nile virus, but anyone can become ill after being bitten by an infected mosquito, officials said.
Although few mosquitoes actually carry the virus in Utah, officials gave several tips to help reduce the chance of being bitten:
• Use mosquito repellents that contain DEET or picaridin when you are outdoors from dusk to dawn.
• Wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants while outdoors.
• Make sure window and door screens are in good repair to prevent mosquito entry into your home.
• Drain standing water around your house to reduce the number of mosquitoes
Contributing: Daphne Chen
