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Ed Yeates ReportingWith the West Nile death of 79-year old Scott Orrock of Springville, health departments today are warning high risk people to be extremely careful when outside from dusk to dawn.
Despite spraying, the mosquito population is rebounding. You don't have to worry in daylight because the high number of infected mosquitoes now carrying West Nile only bite at night.
The Utah County Health Department thought 58-year old Christine Ostler was going to be the state's first fatality from West Nile this season. At Mountain View Hospital in Payson, she was at death's door with complications from encephalitis -- high fever, stiffness in the neck and extreme pain from a headache. Plus, she had one of the earmarks of West Nile, a rash - in her case - from head to toe.
But when it first began...
Christine Ostler, West Nile Victim: "Didn't feel like I had a cold at all, didn't have any nasal or throat or anything, just a really bad headache. I felt kind of weak."
The crisis that almost snuffed out her life has passed, but even now, recovering at home, the effects linger.
Christine Ostler: "I'm very weak. I tire very, very easily and I don't read well. I don't remember like I should."
The Ostler's backyard is beautiful. They have waterways and ponds. Many neighbors have them as well. Though these ponds are routinely filtered and sprayed, the Ostlers were most likely bitten by infected mosquitoes right in their own backyard.
It's possible both were infected, but because Christine may have had a compromised immune system from a recent surgery, she almost died, while Dave had just minor symptoms, like a cold.
Dave Ostler: "We lost our spouses three and a half years ago, both to cancer. I wasn't ready to bury another wife."
Christine Ostler: "We've been blessed, really blessed."
Dave's advice to others for the rest of this season is to be overly cautious. Incidentally, by about September 15th, the disease carrying mosquitoes stop feeding on blood and convert to sugars to get ready for winter.
