The Ministry for Environmental Protection reports that mosquitoes infected with West Nile Virus (WNV) were found in the date groves at Kibbutz Yotvata at the beginning of August.  This indicates that that this year, as well, the virus is present in various places in Israel, and that the local authorities throughout the country must up their efforts to eradicate mosquitoes through increased supervision and extermination of the mosquitoes in their territories.

In Israel there is an inter-ministry setup operating for early detection of the West Nile virus by monitoring the virus in mosquitoes.  The Environmental Protection Ministry, which works on keeping down the mosquito pest in Israel, carries out monitoring of the virus in mosquitoes in cooperation with the Ministry of Health laboratories.

The Minister of Environmental Protection, Gidon Ezra, said that upon receipt of the lab findings, his office updated the local authorities of the regions where the infected mosquitoes were found, as well as authorities adjacent to them regarding the findings and instructed them to expand the scope of their control and extermination of mosquitoes in their jurisdictions. The Minister added that in every area in which the virus is discovered, control and extermination of mosquitoes is upscaled in order to reduce as greatly as possible the risk of human infection.

Dr. Uri Shalom, head of the pest control division of the Environmental Protection Ministry, states that the presence of more infected mosquitoes in additional parts of the country is suspected, and calls on the public to act toward reducing the amount of mosquitoes by drying up any sources of standing water in their property, yards, gardens, roofs, bomb shelters, etc. and to notify their local authority of any mosquito infestation on public property.  In addition, protection against mosquito bites should be implemented by installing screens on windows and applying repellent whenever present in a mosquito infested area.

While most humans infected with WNV have no signs or symptoms, about 20% develop a mild infection called West Nile Fever.  This is not serious and is over within 3-6 days.  But in less than 1% of infected people, WNV can cause a serious neurological infection in the brain or spinal cord or their membranes, with damage lasting for weeks or in some cases even permanently.  So while there's no reason to panic, because this occurs in less than 1% of however many percent of people get infected to begin with, it is reason to take precautions because of the seriousness of those cases that do happen.

It should be noted that birds and mammals are susceptible to WNV as well, and for many birds it is fatal, though fatality of the disease in birds varies between species, age, and other factors. In fact, the monitoring and testing of dead birds rather than mosquitoes was the original method of testing for WNV in a given region. Migratory birds carrying the virus after being bitten by mosquitoes are suspected to be the vector by which the virus spreads to other regions of the world.  Israel is a bottleneck on the major migration route for birds between Europe and Africa and indeed, the Ministry of Health reported in a 2001 conference that there were WNV outbreaks in Israel in 1953, 1957, 1979, 1980, and 1999-2000.  Symptoms in birds include head tremors, balance problems, leg paralysis, seizures, vision difficulties and unexplained moulting. If you have pets, and particularly birds, please keep in mind that they can be susceptible too and need protection both for their own sakes and for yours.