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West Nile Virus - living in fear?

urbaindk

urbaindk

The Real Dr. Science
Jul 12, 2004
4,819
0
Sleepy Hollar
MMike said:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/westnile/

How common is West Nile virus?


In 2005, there were 236 cases of West Nile in Canada, with 101 of those in Ontario.
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Some perspective: Estimated population of Canada as of about 11 am today: 32,579,600 Source: http://www.statcan.ca/english/edu/clock/population.htm

Odds of getting West Nile 236/32,579,600 or 1/138,000 or so. Pretty small odds.

Odds of getting struck by lightning (live or die). Roughly 1/400,000 in the US. Source: http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/medical.htm

So you are roughly 3 times more likely to get West Nile than struck by lightning.

But when you compare it the odds of dying a car crash you see a drastic change in the odds.

Odds of dying in a car crash: 1/6,345 (per year) Source: http://www.iii.org/media/facts/statsbyissue/oddsofdying/?table_sort_735950=3

That is you are 66x more likely to die in a car crash than get hit by lightning and 23x more likely to die in a car crash than get West Nile.


Of course these are all just odds. They really don't mean much in terms of absolute numbers. You can skew the odds in your favor by taking precautions. And as you can see, its much more critical to wear a seat belt and follow the posted speed limit than it is to wear DEET. I'm guessing that if you always wear your seat belt you may shift the odds of dying in a car crash by an order or two of magnitude (10-100 times less likely)

Back to the original topic, letting your kid outside in a potentially infested area would shift the odds against you. So instead of 1/100,000 it might be 1/10,000 (still very small odds). If you are really concerned about West Nile, using any kind of deterrent regardless of its relative effectiveness must shift the odds back in your favor somewhat.
 
Wumpus

Wumpus

makes avatars better
Dec 25, 2003
8,161
153
Six Shooter Junction
ATOMICFIREBALL said:
Those blood suckers can carry AIDS too
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5. Can I get HIV from mosquitoes?

Mosquitoes or other sucking and biting insects do not transmit HIV. For a mosquito to infect someone, it would have to bite a person who was infected. Then, it would have to either immediately travel to someone else and infect that person from tiny drops of infected blood left on the sucker, or it would have to process the virus in its saliva and inject it into the next person. Mosquitoes do not do either of these things.

They do not travel from person to person. They do not carry enough blood on their suckers to infect anyone else they bite. And, they do not process the virus in their saliva. Once inside a mosquito, the virus lives for only a short time. Thus, the saliva mosquitoes inject into people cannot have HIV. If HIV were spread via animals and insects, there would be a high infection rate in people of all ages.

http://www.mnaidsproject.org/learn/faq.htm
 
TN

TN

Hey baby, want a hot dog?
Jul 9, 2002
14,301
1,353
Jimtown, CO
I have unofficially had WNV...it sucked. It was like the Flu pretty much. Good thing about it though, I can never catch it again. Plus I have skeeter-like super powers.
 
HypNoTic

HypNoTic

Man Whore
Aug 3, 2004
144
0
Montreal, Qc
Prevent: Use Watkins (28.5% DEET) - the only logger-approved bug reppelent. They will fly by, but wont bite you.

In case you get bitten, you can use Absorbine (sp?) to kill the WNV right away.

No, that's not what the doctors will tell you, but it does work very well.


If that's not enough for you, get a chainsaw and hold the gaz 'till they're no life remaining within 50 feet of you. Pretty effective when doing trailwork early in spring. ;)
 
binary visions

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,152
1,253
NC
SkaredShtles said:
Is there any evidence that this works? :confused:
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Of course there is.

Some mosquitos carry West Nile.
He's been bitten by mosquitos, and used Absorbine on the bites.
He does not have West Nile.

QED. ;)
 
urbaindk

urbaindk

The Real Dr. Science
Jul 12, 2004
4,819
0
Sleepy Hollar
Not sure if this helps our Canookian friend here but here are the current US states with infections. Might be of some use to some of us.

CDC said:
Data table:
As of July 11, 2006 avian, animal or mosquito WNV infections have been reported to CDC ArboNET from the following states: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Human cases have been reported in California, Colorado, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Texas.



source: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/Mapsactivity/surv&control06Maps.htm
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binary visions

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,152
1,253
NC
SkaredShtles said:
Well then I have *ample* evidence that beer kills WNV. :thumb:
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According to my experience, beer kills a vast majority of diseases that the rest of the world seems to consider dangerous or even fatal.

I'm wondering how long until people catch on. I wonder if I could patent a medical beer? :think:
 
urbaindk

urbaindk

The Real Dr. Science
Jul 12, 2004
4,819
0
Sleepy Hollar
binary visions said:
I'm wondering how long until people catch on. I wonder if I could patent a medical beer? :think:
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Too late,

I knew a guy who was a pretty bad (raging) alcoholic. He got into a pretty bad accident. (walked out in front of a car while drunk). While he was in the hospital he was prescribed beer. It even came with a little prescription label. He was in bad enough shape that they didn't want him to go through the DT's. Or so the story goes. I never did quite believe him.
 
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