West Nile Just Won't Go Away-Eight More Cases

JACKSON, Miss.--Rankin County has been hardest hit by the mosquito-born West Nile virus in 2012. Add one new case there from Monday's new batch. There were eight new cases reported by the Miss. Dept. of Health.

A news release says the new cases also included one in Adams County, one in Jones, one in Lincoln, one in Perry, one in Sunflower and one in Washington. The state's total so far this year is 233 cases, with five deaths.

Though Mississippi's peak season for West Nile has passed, cases continue to be reported to the health department, though not in the mass numbers that we saw in August and September.

West Nile can cause a variety of problems, making you sick in multiple ways. It can also give very few or low intensity symptoms. That includes fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, rash, muscle weakness, or swollen lymph nodes. In rare cases encephalitis or meningitis, which can lead to paralysis, coma or death have occurred.

The health department says to protect yourself, eliminate the threat. Get rid of standing water where mosquitoes breed. Don't go out during peak mosquito hours.