To fulfill our Mission Statement and as a public service, DeKalb County Animal Services and Enforcement is assisting the DeKalb County Board of Health to impound birds suspected of carrying the West Nile Virus. Not every dead bird in the county will carry West Nile virus. Birds targeted for testing are crows, blue jays, and raptors - birds that eat meat like eagles, hawks, and owls. Please, only report birds that do not have an obvious cause of death, such as injuries from power lines, collisions with cars, gunshots, or predation by pets. Birds can only be tested if they are alive or have just died. They should look as if they fell asleep on your lawn. Birds that have been dead more than 24 hours cannot be tested.

If you find a sick, injured or newly dead crow, blue jay or raptor, please report the find to the DeKalb County Board of Health, then contact DeKalb County Animal Services and Enforcement at 404-294-2996.

To Report a dead bird, call us at 404-294-2996 or the Health Department at 404-508-7871

The West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne virus that can cause encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) or meningitis (inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord). The virus usually infects birds, but it can be spread to humans by mosquitoes that feed on infected birds and then bite humans. The virus cannot be spread by person-to-person contact or directly from birds to humans.

The West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne disease previously unknown in the Western Hemisphere. In the summer of 1999, New York City experienced the first outbreak in this hemisphere of a disease caused by the West Nile virus. Birds are the natural hosts of the West Nile virus. The virus is transmitted from infected birds to humans and other animals by infected mosquitoes. Both Culex pipiens and Aedes albopictus, breeds of mosquitoes commonly found in DeKalb County, transmit the virus.

The West Nile virus has been identified in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, North Carolina, and most recently in DeKalb County. Rather than moving directly down the coastline, as predicted, the virus seems to be moving south along the interstates and seeking urbanized areas. The virus has reached the metropolitan Atlanta as of July 2001, including in DeKalb County in the area of N. Druid Hills Road and Buford Highway.

The DeKalb County Board of Health has already begun mosquito trapping and surveillance and, in cooperation with the Georgia Department of Human Resources, has implemented a dead bird surveillance system. DeKalb residents can report dead birds and request mosquito assessments by phone to (404) 508-7871 or online at www.dekalbhealth.net/mosquitoes. Through the leadership effort of the DeKalb County Board of Health, a Metropolitan Atlanta West Nile Surveillance Task Force was formed in early 2000. The task force meets regularly and has developed a West Nile Virus Response Plan for the metro area. The West Nile Virus Response Plan is available for download or viewing online via the DeKalb County Board of Health web site.

In order to focus on the prevention of human disease associated with the West Nile virus, the task force is proposing the following steps:

1. Public education: Public education activities will focus on educating people on how to avoid exposure and what they can do to control mosquitoes at their homes.
2. Mosquito control and containment: There are many techniques that can be used to control the mosquito population. One way to do this is through surveillance. Surveillance is an environmental assessment used to identify and map potential and known mosquito breeding sites. A second method to control mosquitoes is by source reduction. This can be as simple as turning over trapped water in containers such as wading pools and wheelbarrows. This cuts down opportunities for breeding since mosquitoes must have water to breed. A third way to control mosquitoes is through larviciding, a method of killing mosquito larva

DeKalb Animal Control is assisting the Health Department by screening calls and picking up birds for testing.

Even if you live in an area where the West Nile Virus has been found, your chances of getting sick are very, very low. That's because very few mosquitoes carry the virus and even if you are bitten by an infected mosquito, most people do not get sick at all, only a very few become seriously ill.

Most people will develop symptoms anywhere from 5-15 days after a mosquito bite. A small number of people could develop encephalitis or inflammation of the brain. Serious symptoms would be a severe headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of consciousness, or muscle weakness.

People who develop serious illness with the West Nile Virus are primarily the elderly and people with compromised immune systems. The important thing to remember is that these diseases, although they can be very serious, are also quite rare. The important thing to know is that just because you have a mosquito bite, there's no reason to panic.

There are a few steps you can take to make it less likely you'll be bitten by mosquitoes.

• Try to stay indoors when mosquitoes are feeding frequently such as dawn or dusk
• Wear insect repellent with deet, or wear long-sleeved shirts or pants
• Rid your yard of containers that could hold standing water...such As tires, pails. Change water in birdbaths and fountains

• DeKalb County Health Department - West Nile & Mosquitoes Information
• Centers for Disease Control (CDC) West Nile Home Page
• US Department of Agriculture - Viewable Maps Available