Saturday, August 18, 2012

West Nile Virus Emergency

Blame a warm winter, that is what the experts are telling us.

Dallas Texas is under a state of emergency due to an outbreak caused by mosquito bites suffered by the residents in the area.

Here is some basic information collected by the CDC;

There are different types of West Nile illness, the most serious can affect a person's nervous system and can be deadly.

Depending on the type of WNV infection, there is a chance that you may not see any symptoms.
The two types of  illnesses are West Nile fever and Severe West Nile Disease. The most serious case can cause West Nile Meningitis.  Important note, Five cases of Meningitis were discovered in Pennsylvania.

Please click on this link from the CDC, these facts can save a life ; http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/wnv_factsheet.htm

Here is the story done by PBS Newshour about the Dallas Emergency;


 I cannot stress the importance of taking safety measures to avoid Mosquito bites.   There has been known cases in our area in PA of people contracting NWV (West Nile Virus).  We need to take a good look and learn from what is going on in Dallas to prevent us from contracting this disease with no vaccine or cure.  Here is a Map of PA of outbreak areas; http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/USGS_frame.html

Did you know that they have been spraying areas of Montgomery County?

 Here are a list of stories from the Times Herald about West Nile in Montgomery County http://www.timesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/search?crit=west+nile&StartDate=19990101&EndDate=20120818&Searchcategory=%25&BuildNavigators=1&noblankcheck=0&submit.x=0&submit.y=0
 
Here is a local Video Courtesy of WPVI TV Channel 6 Philadelpa, PA 


More useful information for safety and  prevention from Tick and Mosquito bites, for those who venture outdoors;

Monday, August 13, 2012

Eye Witness Account of Hurricane Ernesto


About a week ago Hurricane Ernesto made landfall and we could only watch via maps, satellite images and text advisories.

Courtesy of NASA
Now thanks to Storm Chasers from iCyclone, you can see a first hand account of the storm.


 Watch "Hurricane ERNESTO on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula (2012)" on YouTube