West Nile Virus found in Lakewood…don’t panic.

If they find West Nile in one pond…it just may be in the pond right next to it and say the 6 or 7 more ponds within a mile radius of this one. Funding for west Nile Virus control has been put on the chopping block for most communities despite the residents’ concerns of more local ponds testing positive for West Nile Virus.

Sanctuary Park is an area routinely tested for West Nile and now that it has turned up positive for the germ, more areas will likely be tested. Hopefully these other areas test negative and we avoid an epidemic of some kind. My concern is partly because I fish this area a few times a year. Most of the ponds are situated in park settings where a lot of children play. Kids are far more susceptible to the harmful effects of this virus than adults which should definitely create some serious concern for parents.

Here is a map with the lake and the other pond just across the street. This area contains many parks with small ponds, irrigations and even swimming pools. Below is the news blurb from the Denver Post that makes this positive finding for West Nile Virus sound like something that “pops up” like a distant relative or something much less serious followed up with “…these positive tests shouldn’t alarm residents.” I’m thinking this is just the sort of thing that would alarm me if I frequented this area…and I do.

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_18815113

The fact that a small percentage of mosquitos can survive winter leads me to believe that we should look immediatey to treatment and additional testing of this area heavily populated with children and elderly which are more suceptible. Otherwise next year could see a spike in folks reporting West Nile Virus occurences.

My name is Matt and I’m a fishaholic.