MERIDIAN — This year’s West Nile season is off to a running start.

So far, more than 30 cases have been reported in humans across the state — two resulting in death.

Two humans in Lauderdale County have contracted the West Nile Virus this year; one case of West Nile was found in a local bird.

Dr. Rebecca James, health officer for District 6, said the increase in West Nile cases is most likely due to an increase in infections in the bird population.

“West Nile occurs when a mosquito bites an infected bird and then bites a human,” James said. “But you cannot get it from touching birds.”

The most common birds to be infected by the disease are crows, blue jays and owls, James said.

The two deaths reported from West Nile were in Forrest and Scott counties.

While James said the instances of West Nile have been more frequent than last year, she said the problem is not as severe as in 2002, when there were almost 100 documented cases in the state.

Forrest County reported 12 cases of West Nile Virus in humans this year, by far the most in the state. James said she isn’t sure why there are so many cases in that area and so few on the Coast — only one case has been reported in the three coastal counties in Harrison County — but she believes it may be due to the displacement of the bird population after Hurricane Katrina.

The two human cases of West Nile come more than a year after Lauderdale County stopped spraying for mosquitoes.

Lauderdale County Engineer Neal Carson said the county stopped spraying in July of last year on the recommendation of the state Department of Health. He said a representative from the department said spraying did little to stop West Nile Virus and so county crews have been on hold since then.

Local veterinarian Dr. David Newell of the Till-Newell Animal Hospital on Highway 45 North said his office is currently treating a horse from Sumter County, Alabama, that was diagnosed with West Nile Virus and he is waiting on test results from a possible second infected horse.

He said in addition to West Nile, his office also has seen an increase in flea and tick bites on animals this summer, a problem he said is most likely due to the lack of rain.

“We became inundated in July and those who didn’t already use flea and tick protection on their animals were in a mess,” Newell said.

While Newell said he has not seen any deaths this year in animals as a result of flea and tick bites, he has had to give a few blood transfusions to animals that were anemic as a result of multiple bites.

A good note for humans worried about West Nile: Eighty percent of people infected with West Nile never know they have the disease, said Dr. James of the state Department of Health.

She said the disease is most dangerous to the elderly and small children and that as the disease becomes more common, people may begin to build up an immunity.

She said the peak season should end in October.

“There is more West Nile in a lot of states,” James said. “And it continues to be important for people to avoid mosquitoes.”



WEST NILE VIRUS



Here’s a look at comparison of counties that reported cases of West Nile Virus in humans this year and last year. Statewide, 33 human cases have been reported so far this year compared to 70 cases that were reported last year through Nov. 30.

2006





Attala: 1

Bolivar: 1

Copiah: 1

Forrest: 12

Harrison: 1

Hinds: 2

Lamar: 2

Lauderdale: 2

Marion: 1

Monroe: 1

Pike: 2

Rankin: 2

Scott: 1

Stone: 1

Washington: 1



2005



Adams: 4

Amite: 1 Bolivar: 1

Calhoun: 1

Clay: 2

Coahoma: 2

Copiah: 1

Forrest: 5

Grenada: 1

Hinds: 20

Jefferson: 1

Jones: 6

Kemper: 1

Madison: 6

Montgomery: 1

Perry: 1

Pike:1

Rankin: 10

Sunflower: 2

Warren: 2

Washington: 1

Wayne: 1