Joining us today are representatives from DEP - Commissioner Robert Shinn and Robert Kent, director of the Office of Mosquito Control Coordination. Before they describe their activities, I'd like to remind all about the West Nile virus itself and then describe the role of the Department of Health and Senior Services. We will present the overall plan and then we'll take your questions at the end of the presentations. West Nile is an arboviral disease transmitted though the bite of a mosquito that has picked up the virus by feeding on an infected bird host. West Nile is not directly transmitted from birds to humans or from person to person.
Most infections produce no symptoms in people.
Infected symptomatic people tend to have flu-like symptoms. Most people recover from the infection. But certain populations, mainly the elderly and those with weak immune systems, are more at risk to have a serious illness from the infection and, as we saw in New Jersey last summer, in a few cases die. In 2000, a total of six New Jersey residents became ill and one died due to WNV infection. The virus was also detected in mosquitoes, horses, crows and other birds - including a few sentinel chickens that tested positive late in the season.