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Louisiana Residents Urged to Take Precautions Against West Nile

Aired August 07, 2002 - 14:26   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the increasingly urgent battle against an invisible enemy here at home. West Nile virus is detected in 35 states, and Louisiana now has the unwanted distinction of the largest outbreak ever.
Five people are dead, and state health officials warn hundreds of people could become infected.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is keeping track of the developments from Baton Rouge -- Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. Well, the word is spreading through Louisiana that what has to happen here is people need to take some steps to protect themselves, and health officials here in Louisiana saying that that is really the best measure of defense that they have at this point, and what that entails is using a lot of spray on yourselves. If you are going outdoors or you are walking in the evening hours, to be wearing long sleeved shirts and long sleeved pants as well so that helps out in the situations as well.

Also here, we are at St. James Place, a retirement community in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and folks here have been handed out fliers kind of giving them directions on what to do and how to best handle the mosquito situation. Let's look at this porch here for example. A lot of plants and this birdbath, for example, usually has water in it. They have asked that the water from there be removed. Of course, it's standing water that causes a problem at times.

And also, if you take a look at the potted plants that are over here, you will see just kind of a ring of sand around the bottom part, and what that is for is when the water drains out of the pot, it gets soaked up by the sand, so that prevents the water from just standing still and creating what health officials call just a perfect breeding ground for the type of mosquitoes that can pass along the West Nile virus. And I know that seems really trivial and kind of small in the scope of this vast spreading of this disease, but what that does -- the health officials insist that that's just the kind of thing people need to do.

Mosquitoes, when they're born, usually live about ten days, the female mosquitoes that bite humans and pass along this West Nile virus, and they generally live in the same area that they're born in. So if you can do things like this, you really go a long way to protect yourself from being a victim of mosquito bites, and what is of the larger concern right now is the West Nile virus. Now, we're told that there have been -- the West Nile virus has spread very rapidly through the U.S. If you consider just how quickly a virus like this can move, it came to New York in 1999, has spread quickly through much of the U.S. In fact, the eastern half of the U.S. has been blanketed with cases of West Nile virus, and you also see it on that map that there's a case in Washington state, and what happened was, there's a gentlemen on vacation here in Louisiana who returned home, found out he had West Nile virus. But we are told that people don't need to worry specifically about that case, because this disease cannot be passed from human to human. It has to be from a mosquito to a human.

But a lot of people here in Louisiana we were talking too saying they are adjusting their lifestyles and starting to pay close attention to exactly what they need to do to protect themselves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CATHY SCHEMP, ST. JAMES PLACE: Mosquitoes don't bother me. If I get bitten by a mosquito, that doesn't bother me. I have lived with mosquitoes all my life, so I've never used bug repellent unless I happen to be in an intense place -- in a jungle where I should have it. But now, I carry it in my car. I carry it in my car, and when I get out where I am going to be outside, I put it on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Now, of course, we are here in this retirement community because it is elderly people that are the most at risk of the most severe symptoms of West Nile virus. Everyone that has died in Louisiana is over the age of 53, and they say that is because this West Nile virus usually is -- becomes more serious in people whose immune systems aren't as strong as they once were when they were younger. So, that is why you have seen the most severe cases happen in elderly people as well.

We are also told that state officials here are asking for millions of dollars to help continue the spray efforts that are going around. In this area here, for example, they had been doing spraying on some of the ponds around the area once a month. Now they are doing that twice a month -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Ed Lavandera, live from Baton Rouge. Thanks, Ed. Great information.

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