[6/5/03]WHITFIELD With the summer heating up in Vicksburg, people should take precautions against nature, especially the parts that buzz and sting.

Veterinarian Brigid Elchos of the Mississippi Department of Health said at a briefing here Wednesday the best way for people to confront the dangerous West Nile virus this summer is to avoid the mosquitoes that inject it when they tap humans for blood.

Cities across the state should prepare for the virus that infected 192 Mississippians in 2002 and was fatal for 12, Elchos said. Vicksburg has already begun spraying and Warren County, which created its first-ever spray program last summer, is expected to resume its efforts.

But Elchos said with summer approaching, people need to be conscious of West Nile by taking precautions, mainly by using repellent with the chemical DEET.

Everyone is at risk for contracting the virus, but older people are particularly vulnerable. “The most people at risk for severe illness are the elderly,” Elchos said.

No drug prevents the virus, but people can limit stagnant pools of water, which are the breeding places for mosquitoes.

Elchos suggested the following:

Disposing of water containers.

Making sure gutters drain completely after rains.

Keep fresh water in bird baths.

Turn over plastic wading pools and wheelbarrows when not in use.

Clean debris from edges of ponds, fountains or landscape pools.

Fill potholes in driveways.

Make sure all windows have screens without rips or holes in them.

Also, she said, remember that dusk to dawn are the most common times for mosquitoes carrying West Nile Virus to bite.

Spiders also present a hazard, especially the black widow and brown recluse varieties, which are poisonous and can be found inside and outside homes.

The brown recluse is about a half-inch long and likes dark, moist places. Bites cause a small blister initially that spreads to become a painful wound that can take six to eight weeks to heal.

Tommy Day, who directs the spray program in Vicksburg, said two mosquito trucks are running six days a week for 4 to 5 hours each evening. Spraying started two months earlier than usual this year.

Day said he’s found large concentrations of the flying insects when citizens have called in reports. “I went to some sites, and it was horrible,” Day said.

The spraying and placing larvecide tablets in pools costs about $195,000 a year.

About 20 percent of people exposed to West Nile experience symptoms including fever, headache, body ache, a rash or swollen lymph nodes. In severe cases, people suddenly get high fevers, headaches, confusion and tremors.

Since so many mosquitoes are in Mississippi, Elchos said it’s nearly impossible to find and kill all of them carrying West Nile.

“If you think of a billion mosquitoes, and you’re trying to track 1,000 of them, it can be very difficult,” she said.

Elchos said local health departments are collecting dead crows and blue jays to test for the virus. Last year of 1,000 birds tested, 343 were positive for West Nile.

Mississippi has 50 types of mosquito species, although only three or four are attracted to dine on human blood. Of those, the Southern House Mosquito is the most common carrier of West Nile.

The virus was first discovered in Uganda, Africa, in 1937. The first case in the United States was in New York in 1999. Since then it has spread to 44 states in the continental U.S., with nearly 16,800 bird cases and 4,449 human cases reported in 2002.

With the change in weather, Allen Maxwell, director of Vicksburg-Warren E-911, said he has seen an increase in calls for snakes in peoples’ houses. He said it’s common to see an increase during the summer.

Vicksburg’s Animal Control supervisor, Eldridge Skinner, said he’s seen a few snakes slithering around the city, and he expects more calls with the onset of summer.