Cold weather is good news in heading of West Nile Virus

This weekend’s weather is likely to bring an end to concerns about West Nile virus for the year in Iowa, with lows forecast below freezing. That will kill off the last of the mosquitoes capable of carrying the disease, and assistant state epidemiologist Dr. Cort Lohff says up to now, people have had extra reason to worry when they came down with a fall cold, flu, or mystery bug. He says there will no longer be any risk, so anyone who gets sick can be assured they have something else. This week brought news of a second Iowa death from West Nile virus but Iowa’s still had a total of only 37 cases in humans. Lohff says we’ve been fortunate not to have the number of cases Illinois, Ohio, Michigan or southern states have had, but he says we need to think about what we’ll do next year. Illinois has been hit with far more cases than Iowa, and Dr. Lohff can only look at a few possible reasons. Latest word from Iowa’s health department on Friday was 37 cases of the illness in humans, with two human deaths from West Nile.