
Mosquito fogging set for Winkler amid West Nile virus concerns
The fogging is slated to happen in Winkler and in a three-kilometre zone around the city overnight on Friday and Saturday, and on Monday and Tuesday.
'This extended zone includes the communities of Reinfeld, Chortitz and Schanzenfeld,' a Thursday news release said.
The risk for exposure to the virus is high in the Southern Health region and very high in Winkler and surrounding areas, the release said.
No locally acquired human cases of West Nile have been confirmed in Manitoba this year.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Axios
21 hours ago
- Axios
First West Nile virus case confirmed in Salt Lake County
The Salt Lake County Health Department is warning residents to protect themselves against mosquito bites after confirming the first human case of the West Nile virus in 2025. The big picture: The adult was likely infected "with a more severe form of the disease" in late July, close to the Jordan River in the southern part of the county, and hospitalized, the health department's investigation revealed Thursday. They are now recovering at home. Catch up quick: Mosquito abatement districts in Salt Lake City, South Salt Lake and Magna have found the insects infected with the virus so far this season. 14 people in Utah became infected with the disease last year and one person died after contracting it in 2023. Threat level: The virus can cause mild to severe health complications, including a fever, headache, body aches, vomiting, diarrhea or a rash, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms typically appear two to 14 days after a bite. Less than 1% of infections result in severe health outcomes or death, per the CDC. People ages 50 and older with weakened immune systems carry the highest risk of illness, according to the health department. County health officials released tips to avoid mosquito exposure:


Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Chicago Tribune
Officials say risk of West Nile virus ‘high' in Chicago after city sees first 3 cases of the year
Chicago is now at a high risk level of West Nile virus after reporting its first three confirmed human cases of the virus this year, according to local health officials. This week, the Chicago Department of Public Health announced that three city residents from the Northwest and South sides between the ages 40 and 80 tested positive for the virus and that their symptoms began in late July or early August. The state saw its first human case of the year on June 24, which was the earliest case of West Nile in Illinois since 2016. 'We are seeing a higher proportion of mosquitoes testing positive for West Nile virus than usual this year,' CDPH Commissioner Olusimbo Ige said in a news release. In 2024, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported a total of 69 cases, leading to 13 deaths of West Nile virus, with nearly half of the cases coming out of Cook County. To date, in addition to those reported by CDPH this week, the state agency has reported five other human cases this year in DuPage, DeKalb, Lake, Madison and Wayne counties. West Nile virus is primarily spread to people through mosquito bites and is not transmitted by human-to-human contact, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most people infected with West Nile do not feel sick, the CDC says, though about 1 in 5 people develop a fever and other flu-like symptoms and 1 in about 150 people develop a serious, sometimes fatal, illness. Most human cases of West Nile occur in late summer and fall, when mosquitoes are most active. With no vaccines or medicines to prevent or treat the virus, the most effective method to prevent West Nile infection is to avoid mosquito bites, according to CDPH. To track the risk level of West Nile in Chicago, CDPH from June through October collects mosquitoes from traps placed across the city and tests them for West Nile. Last week, CDPH tested 121 pools of collected mosquitoes and detected West Nile in 59, or 48.8%, of those pools, according to city surveillance data. The week before, the department tested 130 pools of mosquitoes and 81, or 62.3%, tested positive for the virus. That means Chicago has reached a 'high risk' level of West Nile and, because mosquitoes are testing positive earlier, could see that heightened risk last longer this year. That also means the CDPH has sprayed more insecticide to reduce mosquito numbers than it has in recent years, Martin said. Over the past few weeks, CDPH has been spraying insecticides to kill mosquitoes in various areas across the city, including O'Hare International Airport, Logan Square and Avondale, with the department spraying seven more communities — Forest Glen, Norwood Park, Mount Greenwood, Beverly, East Garfield Park, Near West Side and North Lawndale — this week. To curb infection, CDPH is encouraging Chicagoans to: use Environmental Protection Agency-registered insect repellant; eliminate standing water; keep grass and weeds short to eliminate hiding places for mosquitoes; and make sure all screens, windows and doors are shut tight. CDPH also has advised the people who are immunocompromised to consider avoiding outside activity during peak mosquito hours from dusk to dawn. The public is encouraged to track CDPH West Nile surveillance data.


Global News
2 days ago
- Global News
No need to panic, but West Nile threat very real, Manitoba health expert says
Health experts say a confirmed case of West Nile Virus in Manitoba is connected to someone who travelled outside of the province, but that doesn't mean there won't be homegrown cases still to come this summer. 'We don't think it was actually acquired in Manitoba at this point, but we can probably expect that we're going to likely see some cases of human West Nile Virus this season,' Dr. Santina Lee told Global Winnipeg. 'We definitely do see fluctuations year to year, and there's just so many different factors related to that. A lot (relates) to the weather — it has to be the right temperature, whether there's been rain or not, wind … all of that factors in.' Lee, an officer of health with the province, said while reported cases of the virus in humans are on the decline in Manitoba, those numbers are likely inaccurate, as many who are infected with the virus don't show any symptoms. Story continues below advertisement 'The vast majority of people who get infected with West Nile Virus are asymptomatic — have no symptoms at all, have no idea,' she said. 'This will vary on a scale of really mild, minor symptoms — fever, maybe some aches and pains — to having headaches, or more on the severe end, brain infection, brain inflammation and other neurologic symptoms. 'You never know if you are going to be in that percentage of people only mildly symptomatic or not symptomatic at all … or you might be the person who becomes really severely sick with this, ends up in the ICU, and may or may not make it out of the ICU.' Get weekly health news Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday. Sign up for weekly health newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Lee said everyone who is infected has a different experience, and while she doesn't want to raise alarm bells about the potential for infection, there are simple ways Manitobans can keep safe during the rest of the summer, including wearing insect repellant, avoiding outdoor time between dawn and dusk when the mosquitoes are more active and wearing long sleeves and long pants, especially if you're going out at night. You can also make sure there's no standing water or other attractive situations for the mosquitoes to breed on your property. 'Avoiding and eliminating the types of environments the mosquitoes like to be in and breed … all of those can go a long way to reducing our risk for mosquito bites and specifically culex tarsalis.' Story continues below advertisement Entomologist Taz Stuart told Global Winnipeg an increase in the number of potentially West Nile-carrying insects has led to a second round of treatment in the Winkler area, following last week's emergency fogging. 'If (a culex tarsalis mosquito) comes out of overwintering and she had West Nile from last year, she will then transmit it into the bird population, and they feed on birds initially in the start of the season,' he said. 'And then as we go into June and into July, they start moving into the larger animals and then humans. And this is where the August long weekend was key — that's usually the highest transmission, and with Winkler and that area having such a high percentage of positive culex mosquitoes … the overall nuisance population is very, very low, so people don't think there's a problem, but tarsalis is a very sneaky biter.'