No Human Case of West Nile in Illinois So Far

Good news for gardeners--not a single human case of West Nile virus in Illinois this year. The Center for Disease Control website seems to be more realistic than most media outlets about the severity of WNV:

     > "Most people (70-80%) who become infected with WNV do not develop any symptoms.
     >"Less than 1% of the people who are infected with WNV will develop a serious neurological illness such as encephalitis or meningitis."
     >"About 1 in 5 people who are infected will develop a fever with other symptoms."

These statements show that the threat of West Nile is not a huge one. You are much less safe taking your car on the road in the morning. Nonetheless, 67 people in Illinois died of WNV in 2002, the second year of its noticed arrival in the States. Last year 12 people died in Illinois, the largest number since 2005.

What about children and West Nile? According to the Healthychildren.org website:

     >"Most children who get West Nile virus have only mild symptoms or no symptoms at all."
     >"In most children with West Nile virus infections, the symptoms disappear within a few days."

It appears that children are much more able to deal with WNV than over-fifty adults.

News organizations and city councils tend to be eager to warn people about the "dangers" of nature, and perhaps they should. But could they promote the healthiness of working and being outdoors with equal vigor? It's not beneficial for them to just play the warning "nanny." The City of Evanston website, for instance, warns that hail is like "bullets." Well, hail is not like bullets. It's perhaps like "pellets." Bullets are projectiles that seem to kill a lot of people in Chicago.

Anyway, you can go out and garden, but watch out for tornadoes!