Concerned About the West Nile Virus

My FIL had West Nile, gosh I think its been at least 5 years ago. Anyway, he had a stiff/soar neck that just wouldn't go away. He even went to the chiropractor to try and see if that would help. (I believe he even went to his family Dr to have it looked at, they thought it was a pulled muscle) It finally worked its way to a very bad headache. So bad he went to the ER. They admitted him because they thought he had Meningitis. But test results came back negative. Finally, after many tests it was confirmed he had West Nile. He got treatment and has been fine since.

Hi Lele20

The CDC is an excellent resource and Denise sent you the link.

But I also pulled some info from Wiki-

80% of the cases have NO symptoms at all. You don't even know you have it!!!!!

You are not likely to die of West Nile Virus. They estimate that less than 1% of the infected would have a fatal reaction. Even in the worst case you're only talking about 1 out of 150 would develop an infection that develops into encephalitis or meningitis (still not always fatal).

Again it states that 80% of those infected don't even have symptoms. And "The more severe outcomes of WNV infection are clearly associated with advancing age and a patient history of organ transplantation and diabetes".

You treat the symptoms the way you treat any symptoms of general illness.... so if your kid get a fever or seems sick enough to go to the Dr - then take them. Make sure they get fluid and rest. If they don't have compromised immune systems they should be ok....
"If one becomes infected, generally, treatment is purely supportive: analgesia for the pain of neurologic diseases; rehydration for nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea; encephalitis may also require airway protection and seizure management".

It's a nasty cold, really. And it typically is the hardest for those with weak immune systems, like the elderly. It rarely kills anyone.

Unless your baby is brand new, I wouldn't even worry about it.
It's pretty standard around here every summer.

Here's some info from the CDC:

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/westnile/

Good luck!