West Nile Virus

Lately I don't know why but I am always feeling tired. I am getting 8 hours or more sleep a night but when that alarm goes off in the morning I have the hardest time dragging myself out of bed. I have noticed that I have been this way ever since I was sick in August. I was home from work for a week with what ever it was I had and the next week after was still not quite right. I have tried to recall the last time I was that sick and for the life of me I can think of only one that was close but not like I had this time.

Up to 20 per cent of those who become infected will display mild symptoms including fever, headache, body aches, nausea, vomiting, and sometimes swollen lymph glands or a skin rash on the chest, stomach and back. Symptoms can last a few days to several weeks. These are some of the symptoms that I experience when I was so sick.

About one in 150 people infected with West Nile Virus will develop serious illness, with high fever, headache, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness, vision loss, numbness and/or paralysis. These symptoms may last several weeks, and neurological effects may be permanent.

The incubation period for West Nile Virus is three to 14 days and there is no specific treatment. People with mild symptoms such as fever and aches tend to get better on their own. Those who contract the severe form of the illness will be hospitalized.

So after reading this about WNV I called my doctor and made an appointment to be tested for WNV.

Saskatchewan has the highest rate of WNV in Canada for 2007. Last I heard on the news there was over 1000 cases of West Nile in Saskatchewan with about 1800 cases in all of Canada and 4 deaths related to WNV. When ever you see these commercials on TV about WNV they always say if you experience any of the symptoms for WNV to contact your physician, it would be easier to know if you are experiencing these symptoms if they would list them so one would know what they are.

Had I known what the symptoms were for West Nile Virus when I was so sick, I would have had my daughter take me into the doctors then and had the tests done instead of now.