by Robert A. Cronkleton
Credit score: Pixabay/CC0 Public Area
Well being officers are warning residents to stay on guard after Missouri skilled a rise in human West Nile virus circumstances to this point this 12 months.
As of Oct. 4, there have been 16 human circumstances of West Nile virus in Missouri, leading to 15 hospitalizations and three deaths. Extra circumstances are beneath investigation.
Within the Kansas Metropolis space, two circumstances have been reported—one in Clay County and one in Jackson County—and each sufferers required hospitalization, in accordance with knowledge from the well being division.
In Kansas, there have been a complete of 19 circumstances and one demise to this point this 12 months, in accordance with knowledge from the Kansas Division of Well being and Setting.
The West Nile virus stays the most typical mosquito-borne sickness in the US, Missouri well being officers mentioned. Most individuals contaminated don’t expertise signs, however one in 5 develops flu-like signs resembling fever, headache or physique aches.
In uncommon circumstances, the virus could cause severe well being issues like swelling of the mind or spinal twine or paralysis. Older adults or folks with weakened immune programs are particularly weak.
The soar in West Nile virus circumstances comes as Kansas Metropolis’s summers are stretching additional into fall. Summer season now ends about seven days later than it did within the early Nineteen Seventies, in accordance with Local weather Central, a local weather analysis group.
Different cities within the area are seeing longer summers too: St. Joseph, 9 days later; Springfield, eight days later; Joplin, 15 days later; Columbia, 9 days later; St. Louis, 11 days later; Topeka, seven days later; and Wichita, 11 days later.
This creeping summer season warmth carries well being ramifications, together with an extended allergy season and an prolonged interval when disease-carrying mosquitoes are lively, in accordance with Local weather Central.
Well being officers urge utilizing insect repellent with DEET, picaridin, or IR3535, dressing in lengthy sleeves and pants, eliminating standing water round houses, fixing torn window and door screens and reporting lifeless birds to the Missouri Division of Conservation’s on-line Wildlife Well being Occasion reporting instrument.
2025 The Kansas Metropolis Star. Distributed by Tribune Content material Company, LLC.
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West Nile virus surges in Missouri, KC circumstances reported: Officers urge vigilance (2025, October 10)
retrieved 10 October 2025
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