West Nile Virus.?

Question:

I live in Oceanside Ca, in san diego north county. and so far two crows have tested positive for westnile virus. today i looked at my left hand on the top part of my wrist. and there were these unusual little red bumps there about 10+ all together in one area and i also have mosquito bites around my arms as well. What im asking here is .that i've looked everywhere on the net but couldn't find any pictures of mosquito bites with the west nile virus. i mean abosolutely no pictures all they said where how to protect yourself but nothing alse. if anyoone could give me a link of where i could find some pics of infected moquito bites to see how they look like. thanks.

Answers:
I understand your concern when such a rare disease becomes publicized out of proportion to even match common conditions such as tuberculosis. I think you should understand that mosquito bites aren't always the same from mosquito to mosquito and even from person-to-person, as it also depends on the inflammatory response to the bite. Thus, if you're still wondering if it is a mosquito bite, just look up some common mosquito bites, which should give you a pretty good idea of what they look like. Alternatively, search for the Culex Mosquito, which is the known vector for the West Nile Virus infections in humans and see what you can find..

I would stop right there however, and learn a clinician's perspective on West Nile VIrus Encephalitis. Believe it or not, WNS more commonly causes a short-lived febrile illness that causes little to no harm. It has the potential for causing encephalitis in individuals with weakened immune systems such as in the elderly and immunosuppressed. Furthermore, we're talking about quite a rare disease; with only a small proportion of the Culex mosquitoes carrying the virus, amongst thousands of species and millions of mosquitos. You might as well make it your lucky day and go buy yourself a lottery ticket.

I don't believe that mosquitoes that are infected with WNV leave a bite that looks different from a normal mosquito bite, so the 10+ bumps that you have are probably not related in any way to WNV. Do the 10+ bumps itch and do you known what you came into contact with prior to noticing the unusual bumps because it sounds like an allergic reaction of some sort. If it's an allergic reaction, it should be gone in a few hours. Just wash it off with cool water and apply some rubbing alcohol and it should be gone in no time.

You may be confusing Lyme disease with West Nile virus. After a bite from a deer tick, a very tiny tick, there will often be a gradually enlarging red ring around the bite site.

There is nothing unusual about the appearance of the particular mosquito bite that transmits the West Nile virus. The viral infection may cause a rash, but I cannot find a picture of it.

West Nile Virus.?

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