West Nile Virus Hysteria in Ohio

( My comment, posted in a June 2013 ToledoTalk.com thread. )

Hopefully, this does not squelch anyone's hysteria about West Nile Virus in Ohio.

Ohio's 2010 population : 11,536,504

Ohio Department of Health - West Nile Virus in Ohio

Year	Human Cases	Fatalities
2000	0	0
2001	0	0
2002	441	31
2003	108	8
2004	12	2
2005	61	2
2006	48	4
2007	23	3
2008	15	1
2009	2	0
2010	5	0
2011	21	1
2012	121	7
TOTAL	857	59
Ave/yr	78	5

The above averages were calculated for the 11 years of known cases.

Toledo murder rate

Year	Murders
1999	15
2000	12
2001	18
2002	28
2003	21
2004	22
2005	28
2006	35
2007	13
2008	18
2009	33
2010	23
2011	30
Total	296
Ave/yr	23

Ohio Department of Health - June 2013 report -
Leading Causes of Summer Injury - Drowning :

Drowning is the leading cause of injury-related death for Ohio children ages 1 to 4 and the third leading cause for ages 5 to 9

On average, 27 Ohio children and youth aged 1 to 19 drown each year.

While children can drown in water anywhere, younger children (aged 1 to 9) are at greater risk of drowning in bathtubs and swimming pools while older youth (aged 10 to 19) are at greater risk of drowning in natural bodies of water.

It's time for society (and media) to recognize and over-hype the fact that swimming pools, bathtubs, and our natural bodies of water are vicious killing machines of our youth, our future leaders. If it can save just one life, all public swimming pools should be closed.

August 2012 - NBC Health News - Is spraying for West Nile virus safe? :

The poison center and state health officials, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency, say the spray being used is about as safe as an insecticide can be.

"West Nile virus was first detected in the United States in 1999,” the CDC says.

“Over 80 percent of the cases have been reported from six states (Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and California) and almost half of all cases have been reported from Texas.”

“Risks with aerial spraying are very, very low, especially compared with the risk of disease,” said Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman for the Texas State Department of Health Services. “We believe it is a safe+ and very effective approach for Dallas.”

Called Duet, it’s made up of two products, both synthetic versions of a chemical made by chrysanthemum flowers.

... the pyrethrins in Duet — that’s their chemical name – are formulated differently ...

“Pyrethrins are one of the least poisonous insecticides to mammals," the [National Pesticide Information Center] says on its website. They break down quickly into inactive forms in the body and don’t build up in the soil.

They do, however, kill honeybees and can poison fish and other aquatic life. That’s one reason that Texas is spraying at night – to minimize the effects on bees, butterflies and other beneficial insects.

Beneficial insects are active at night too. I see bats occasionally flying around our home in West Toledo. Bats enjoy a good night time meal of insects. Butterflies belong to the insect order known as lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Many moth species fly at night. Obviously before becoming moth, it would have existed in larval form. Lepidoptera larvae provide food to birds, and etc., etc., ...

“Risks with aerial spraying are very, very low ..."

Ohio averages 5 deaths per year that are attributed to the West Nile Virus. I would say that is very, very low considering Ohio's population is over 11 million people.

It's theoretically possible that in Ohio, the spraying is more dangerous to humans than the mosquitoes.

Manhattan's Restaurant should parlay the Friday night experience into a new meal, appetizer, or cocktail that would be named something related to the event, such as Duet, Pyrethrin, Spray Me Thrice, Run 4 Cover, or County Knucklehead in a Truck.

#health - #nature - #insects - #moronism - #blog_jr