West Nile Virus Hits City No Human Infected Yet, but Warning Given

SANTA CLARITA – A dead crow at a Valencia park has proved to be the third bird found infected with West Nile virus in the city, officials said Wednesday.

The bird was found this week at Valencia Meadows Park in the 25600 block of Fedala Road, city spokeswoman Gail Ortiz said.

There is a city-sponsored summer day camp at the park, prompting officials to urge parents and visitors to take precautions, including the use of insect repellent.

“The city is working with the agencies that handle West Nile,” Rick Gould, director of city parks, recreation and community services, said in a printed statement. “Our understanding is that at this time West Nile is not occurring in our parks and that the bird that was field-tested is not an indicator of a more serious problem at this time.”

According to health experts, West Nile is spread to humans from the bite of an mosquito that has fed on a bird carrying the virus. Most mosquitoes do not carry the virus, and most people bitten by mosquitoes do not become infected. The virus is not spread directly from birds to people.

Symptoms of the virus include fever, headache, nausea, body aches and mild skin rashes, health officials said. However, severe complications can develop: encephalitis, inflammation of the brain, or meningitis, and inflammation of the lining of the brain or spinal cord.

Dr. Laurene Mascola of the Los Angles County Department of Health Services said the virus, which first appeared in the United States in 1999 in New York and moved steadily westward, is now a fact of life in California.

“There is West Nile in L.A. County,” she said. “Whether you found one crow or a dozen – we might as well stop finding crows – people need to be aware there is a mosquito-borne disease, and they want to make sure they don’t get it.”

Crows and ravens are particularly susceptible to the virus.

Two crows infected with the virus were discovered in February in Valencia, according to officials in the Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District. Dead birds carrying the West Nile virus have also been found elsewhere in the county, including in the San Fernando and Antelope valleys, but there have been no reports of human infection in Los Angeles County.

Statewide, 46 counties have reported West Nile activity this year, according to the California Department of Health Services. The virus has infected 64 people, and two of them have died.

Mascola said the problem has been milder this year than last year, when there was known infection of 331 people in Los Angeles County, of whom 14 died. Statewide, there were 830 cases, with 28 deaths.

“When it hits an area hard, it appears that the next year is going to be milder,” she said.

Eugene Tong, (661) 257-5253

eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com