By Kevin Lavery, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – The St. Louis County Health Department says West Nile Virus is showing up earlier this season than during last summer.
The first positive case of the disease was confirmed on June 10, 2004. That's 20 days before the first case of 2003.
Specialist Joan Bradford says people have been good about getting rid of potential breeding grounds. But she adds plenty of spots are still out there. "We'll see drainage pipes that people lay in their yards to drain water away from their houses, and it's the corrugated piping and it's laid in such a way that it's full of water," Bradford says. "So, a lot of people are hearing the message and don't realize that some of the things that they're doing are really contributing to the problem."
Bradford says the earlier findings mean people are being exposed to potential virus-carrying culex mosquitoes for a longer period of time.
The female culex seeks out standing water to lay eggs. "It lays up to 300 eggs in one egg raft," Bradford adds. "That means if you don't dump that water out, 300 mosquitoes can emerge; so they tend to grow exponentially."
The culex is the type of mosquito that usually carries West Nile; it's most active at dawn and at dusk.