The members of the women’s cross-country team sprayed one another with bug spray before their meet on Sept. 1.

“It started at the Noblesville meet because they have lots of woods,” Sophia “Sophie” Longest, cross-country runner and sophomore, said. “They actually had to come on the overhead speakers to say, ‘Please don’t spray mosquito spray by the runners. It’s getting in their mouths and eyes.’”

Longest, along with the other cross-country runners and spectators, was trying to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes, which may carry West Nile Virus (WNV).

WNV is a mosquito-borne illness that originated from birds in Uganda. It has been sweeping across the United States as a seasonal epidemic. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), as of Sept. 11 this year, there have been 2,636 cases of WNV in people in the United States, the highest on record since 1999. The U.S. National Library of Medicine said WNV is most potent in the fall, so the number of people affected increases in the months of August and September.

There has already been one confirmed case of WNV in Carmel this year. According to Jeanette McGavic, vector control biologist for the Hamilton County Health Department, the health department sets traps that collect adult-biting mosquitoes. From this procedure, WNV-carrying mosquitoes have been detected in four different Carmel traps.

“Carmel has just as many mosquitoes as anywhere else,” McGavic said via email. “You should know that WNV is present in the mosquito population; there have been human cases of WNV in Carmel already this year, and if you are going to be outdoors, you need to take precautions.”

WNV is a virus, meaning that it has no “cure.” There is currently no antibiotic, vaccine or medicine that fights it.

McGavic said, “Once you are bitten by a mosquito, there isn’t anything you can do to prevent WNV. That is why the best form of WNV prevention is avoiding mosquito bites in the first place.”

According to McGavic, once patients contract WNV, hospitals can only monitor them and try to relieve their symptoms.

The CDC said that roughly 80 percent of those infected with WNV show no signs of infection, 20 percent have mild symptoms, and less than one percent develop severe illness. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, severe WNV can lead to brain damage, permanent muscle weakness and death.

In students, reactions range from disinterest to concern.

Some students are unworried, like sophomore Haley Ip. Ip’s friend contracted swine flu and was worried about it, but nothing happened.

Ip said, “I feel like it’s like the swine flu. It’s just like a normal disease, but since people don’t know about it they get all worried.”

Others are passive, like junior Sameer Manchanda.

“I’m not doing anything special,” he said, “But I’m keeping it on my radar.”

Still others, such as sophomore Tanya Mangalam, are worried about the West Nile Virus. She said that her family has mosquito repellents and uses them regularly. Also, she said that since mosquitoes breed in standing water, she and her family keep their surroundings clean and void of anything that would attract mosquitoes or allow them to breed.

“(WNV) is really dangerous,” she said. “You should treat it like any other disease, like malaria, for instance.”

The mosquito that most commonly transmits WNV is the Culex pipiens. It is most active at dusk and dawn, so there is a greater chance of being bitten by a mosquito—possibly one carrying WNV—around those times.

According to Rutgers and the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Culex pipiens is the most common type of mosquito in urban and suburban settings and carries St. Louis encephalitis as well as WNV. The mosquito targets mostly birds but occasionally targets humans. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, researchers believe WNV is spread from birds to humans through mosquitoes.

“Since mosquitoes are most often active at dusk and dawn,” McGavic said, “I think it might be a good idea to stress WNV prevention to the student athletes and band members. I set traps near a lot of high schools in the county, and I see a lot of marching bands, cross-country teams and soccer teams practicing at dusk and dawn.”

Performing arts groups, such as marching band or symphony orchestra, have practices that let out late at night. Students therefore have to wait for parents at dusk, which is mosquito prime time. Some sports teams, such as the football team, have practices into the evenings; during the summer, many activities were held in the early mornings.

McGavic said she knows it is unreasonable to ask athletes to wear long sleeves and long pants; therefore, she suggested wearing shirts and using repellent.

“My advice is to wear as much clothing as you can stand and to always wear a repellent,” McGavic said.

Although WNV is not as lethal to healthy teenagers as it is for those with chronic health conditions that weaken the immune system, McGavic says it is still a cause for concern.

McGavic said, “While the risk of serious disease transmission is low for young people, even the mild form of WNV will adversely affect athletic performance.”

She said that the risk of being infected makes taking precautions against WNV and its mosquito carriers necessary.

Longest, however, remains complacent towards WNV.

“We keep a bottle of bug spray in the locker room to spray each other before practice,” Longest said.

She said the women’s cross-country team often runs in the woods behind the school, where there are many mosquitoes. They often compare the number of mosquito bites they get after practice.

“People joke and when somebody gets bitten, we’ll all be like ‘West Nile Virus!’ If you think about how many mosquito bites we get, what are the odds that one of those mosquito bites would have the West Nile Virus?”