Notice the virus hasn't been reported in South Carolina. It must be observing the NAACP boycott.
Okay, that didn't turn out quite like I had planned...
West Nile Outbreak Emergency
State officials say it's only a matter of days until Louisiana will have the worst outbreak of West Nile Encephalitis the United States has ever seen. Already Louisiana has 58 total cases, with four confirmed deaths. Two of those four deaths are here in East Baton Rouge parish. As WAFB's Bob Waters reports, authorities are quickly learning that prevention is becoming absolutely critical to saving lives.
Mosquito control workers are responding to hundreds of calls a day for free mosquito inspections. They say about 1/5 of the calls show a West Nile hazard of stagnant water in tires, under flower pots, and other areas.
Daniel Garrett with mosquito control says what they are looking for is important so they don't have to keep coming back to the same residence treating it over and over again.
Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary David Hood says they expect to see an increase in cases for sure. State officials are expecting the worst. They say local mosquito control offices are working full tilt and money to pay for it is running thin. That's why federal assistance is needed.
Hood says they're doing a lot of spraying. At the rate spraying's going on, parishes are going to exhaust funds quickly. That's one reason that Governor Mike Foster has declared the emergency request. Emergency room nurses and doctors are also getting a briefing on the West Nile. Our lady of the Lake joined Slidell and Lake Charles hospitals getting a briefing from CDC scientists.
Susan Blumstein with Our Lady of the Lake Hospital says many people will come in with very benign symptoms and if they don't have their heads up and think they are seeing an increase in West Nile, the physician will just treat the person for the flu.
Officials say there are products at local stores and nurseries to kill mosquitoes in birdbaths and other areas around the house to apply to standing water. The bacteria is released in the water in the lawn in the mosquitoes ingest it, it kills them. Meanwhile, the spraying continues while the West Nile continues to spread.
Symptoms of West Nile are not much different than the flu. For much more on West Nile, log on to www.wafb.com, and then click on Healthline.
Breakdown of West Nile Cases:
Allen Parish - 1 case
Ascension Parish - 2 cases
Calcasieu Parish - 2 cases, 1 death
East Baton Rouge Parish - 12 cases, 3 deaths
West Baton Rouge Parish - 1 case
East Feliciana - 1 case
Jefferson Parish - 2 cases
Livingston Parish - 7 cases
Orleans Parish - 1 case
Quachita Parish - 1 case
St. Tammany Parish - 18 cases, 1 death
Tangipahoa Parish - 7 cases
Washington Parish - 1 case
Mississippi - 1 case (Being treated in Louisiana)
Undetermined - 2 cases
Yikes!
The next day as I was moving from my apartment, I nearly ran over a bird with my dolly. The bird flapped up to a branch, but when I turned to look at it, I could see it was in trouble. It was a pretty little loggerhead shrike, but it was clearly dying.
I called the non-emergency sheriff's number. The dispatcher said that it should be reported but that the sheriff's office doesn't handle it. I tried one public health number and got a message saying something about someone not setting up an answering machine. I tried another number of another bureaucracy, and they told me to call the number of the place with the messed up message. When I told the lady I had already tried that number, she called them herself and finally got through. I called again and got someone.
When I spoke to the lady and told her about the bird, she informed me that "we are only interested in birds of prey." I told her that's exactly what a shrike is. I asked what she thought that meant. She said that they were thinking it was hawks, crows, and blue jays. I told her that shrikes eat as many animals as blue jays do. She said that if I could find a reference that told that a shrike was a bird of prey, they could test it.
The bird hadn't died yet, but I took my Sibley's Guide to Birds to the health department. After a five or ten minute wait, they let me speak to an "inspector." The clerk had tried to copy the necessary pages, but the copier didn't work. The inspector agreed that a shrike would qualify and said that she hadn't been told exactly what species qualified. She said that the test works better on some species than others. She told me that they could only take a freshly dead bird. They couldn't take it if it were still alive. If it died, they could only take it if it were frozen soon after death. This was a Friday, and I certainly wasn't going to keep a dead bird in my freezer all weekend. She said many people felt that way.
The poor bird at least had the good grace to die before the office closed. I wrapped it in plastic and took it to them. They told me that they would call in about a week if the test were positive. I asked what I should do if it were. They said that I didn't need to do anything and that they just need to track this stuff.
I went away feeling more persuaded that government doesn't work. If these people were really interested in doing the survey and understanding results, I think they would find a way to collect birds over the weekend. I also think that someone should have sent a list of birds and an identification guide to the health departments. I don't expect this woman to know birds, but someone should have told her what was needed.
WFTR
Bill
Notice the virus hasn't been reported in South Carolina. It must be observing the NAACP boycott.