By karl vilacoba
Staff Writer
BRICK –– The township is now one of a handful of Ocean County municipalities with enough West Nile virus-positive crows for officials to quit testing the dead birds.
Berkeley, Dover and Lakewood have also recorded five virus-positive crows, according to the Ocean County Health Department. There are have been no confirmed human cases in Ocean County this year.
Once five crows have tested positive, authorities will automatically assume others found dead are virus-positive and will no longer test them, according to Ocean County Health Department Coordinator of Community Health Services Dr. Ella Boyd. Residents should still alert the health department so the Ocean County Mosquito Extermination Commission can track the virus and survey its area, Boyd said.
Boyd, a veterinarian, said crows act as an effective "sentinel" to track the virus because they are uniquely susceptible to dying from it.
Brick officials previously alerted residents when virus-positive crows were found in the township’s Beverly Beach and Windward Beach neighborhoods, but said they have not been informed where the others were found. Boyd said the county doesn’t typically announce these specifics.
"We don’t want to give the impression that the virus is only in certain areas of Brick because that’s where the crows were found," Boyd said.
As of Aug. 29, the county has documented 45 virus-positive crows since the beginning of the summer.
Boyd said that with five virus-positive crows in Brick, it is reasonable to rule out the possibility that they are transient animals. Crows tend to fly only a short distance from their habitats until they migrate in the fall, she said.
Authorities recommend residents change or clear areas of standing water frequently, such as bird baths, kiddy pools and gutters, to combat mosquitoes. Even a few inches of water in an old tire can be used as a breeding ground for hundreds of mosquitoes a day, Boyd said.
If possible, the public should limit outdoor activities at dawn or dusk, wear long-sleeved shirts and pants, keep screen doors and windows in good shape and use insect repellent on skin or clothing.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, only 1 percent of people bitten by infected mosquitoes ever develop symptoms, which may include fever, headaches and swollen lymph glands. In the most serious cases, patients can suffer from a stiff neck, muscle weakness, disorientation, brain inflammation, coma and possibly death.