According to the Mississippi Department of Health, there have been two new travel-associated cases of Zika in Prentiss county and one new case of the West Nile virus in Rankin county.
Freshman pre-pharmacy major Alex Ferguson said the spread of mosquito-borne illness affects everyone because no one knows what the virus could become.
“I’ve heard of how Zika causes severe birth defects, but I wonder if it could also indirectly affect us in those same ways long-term,” she said.
Birth defects resulting from transmission of Zika include brain damage, hearing and vision loss and impaired growth. The MSDH strongly advises pregnant women not to travel to areas where Zika is actively being transmitted.
People who travel to areas where Zika is being transmitted are advised to avoid mosquito exposure for a full three weeks after they return home. The virus can also be transmitted sexually, even by those with no symptoms of infection.
The breed of mosquito spreading Zika abroad and in portions of Miami Beach, Florida, is called Aedes aegypti. Although the mosquito has not been detected in Mississippi since the early 1990s, the MSDH is currently conducting surveillance for Aedes mosquito populations in the state.
Symptoms of West Nile virus are often mild and may include fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, a rash, muscle weakness or swollen lymph nodes. In a small number of cases, infection can result in encephalitis or meningitis, which can lead to paralysis, coma and possibly death.
So far this year, human cases of West Nile have been reported in multiple counties in Mississippi. These counties include Calhoun, Chickasaw, Copiah, Grenada, Hinds, Lamar, Lee, Leflore, Lincoln, Lowndes, Marion, Perry and Rankin. There was one death reported in Hinds County.
To avoid transmission of mosquito-borne illnesses, MSDH suggests using mosquito repellent with an EPA-registered ingredient, such as DEET, when outdoors, removing all sources of standing water around the home and yard to prevent mosquito breeding, wearing loose and light-colored clothing to cover arms and legs when outdoors and avoiding areas where mosquitoes are prevalent.
“No matter where we come from, we all travel a lot, so any of us could be affected by it,” freshman French major Rebecca Greenfield said. “Because this is a college campus, I think that it’s easy for anything to spread quickly.”
Junior theater major Tycarlous Dewberry said, because Zika can be sexually transmitted, the university’s health department should start passing out information and protection from the virus.
“We have students from everywhere, so we may very well have students who have been exposed to the viruses,” Deberry said. “I’m not sure that the two viruses would cause a major epidemic, but we could definitely have students who may have been exposed, and that could affect us all.”
