West Nile Virus Has Been Reported in Montana

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - The Montana Department of Health and Human Services announced this week that West Nile virus has been reported in Montana, primarily in counties in northern and eastern Montana.

I spoke with DPHHS Vectorborne Disease Epidemiologist Devon Cozart on Tuesday who provided details.

West Nile Virus Detected in Montana

“Each season we collect mosquitoes, and those collections are called pools, and so those pools are collected from individual sites, and we will test those for West Nile,” began Cozart. "That testing gives us an early warning system for West Nile virus activity. Because it's in mosquitoes, we know it can be transmitted to humans, so we like to put out an alert, and that's what we just had detected.”

Cozart described the most effective ways to avoid West Nile virus.

“The best way to prevent West Nile is to prevent mosquito bites, and great ways to do that include wearing mosquito repellent,” she said. “Anything that says it works against mosquitoes is great, and anything EPA registered as well, which they have a list of on their website, and wearing long sleeves and long pants if you can manage it in the hot weather. I recommend, if you're going out at a time of day where mosquitoes are most active, which is dawn and dusk that you go ahead and consider wearing long pants and long-sleeve shirts to help prevent you from getting bit.”

Cozart said West Nile symptoms for the most part are mild but can be very dangerous.

Symptoms are Mostly Mild but Can be Severe in Some Patients

“Severe symptoms are going to start off with some fever, usually chills, sweating, and possibly a rash as well, and then it progresses,” she said. “It can progress to things like confusion, even numbness in your extremities, and then further on to paralysis, coma and blindness; essentially severe neurological issues that can result in encephalitis and sometimes, in some cases, results in death or long term disability.”

Cozart said the best way to avoid contracting West Nile virus is to stay indoors.

READ MORE: Western Montana's 'Mosquito Forecast' for 2024

You Can Avoid West Nile Virus by Staying Indoors

“One great way to prevent getting bit by mosquitoes, if you see them out, try to prevent being outside times a day where they're very active, and that's that dawn and dusk time period,” she said. “If you can control when you're outside, consider managing your time around dawn and dusk and not being outside of that time of day. In addition, screens are great. If you can get screens up on your windows and your doors you can open up your windows at dusk, which is when I like to have windows open and have a nice breeze coming through the house without worry about mosquitoes also getting in.”

Six mosquito pools in Blaine, Dawson, Prairie, and Wibaux counties have tested positive for West Nile virus but has not yet been discovered in western Montana.