West Nile Virus in Tennessee

West Nile Virus makes its appearance in Tennessee at some point every year. Nashville Metro Public Health officials have alerted that the West Nile Virus has been found in mosquitoes in their area.

Metro Public Health Department’s Pest Management Division has its first positive tests of West Nile after trapping mosquitoes near the intersection of 28th Avenue North and Clifton Avenue. So far, Davidson County residents have escaped contracting the virus this year.

To detect the West Nile Virus officials will collect swaths of mosquitoes from various areas to test for the presence of the virus. This finding is not due to a local resident being diagnose with the West Nile Virus.

So how can you protect yourself from getting the West Nile Virus?

The health department recommends that people decrease their risk to exposure by limiting time outdoors at dusk and night, wearing an effective mosquito repellant and wearing socks, long-sleeved shirts and pants. Screens on windows and doors should also be in good repair.

People can also protect themselves by removing items from their yard that collect water and by cleaning clogged gutters.

There are other methods you can implement to deminsh the mosquito population that we’ve highlighted on this site before. Use mosquito repellant plants, you can even grill away some of the bugs to keep mosquitoes at bay. This report is from Nashville, but West Nile Virus has been in our Knoxville area before and taking precautions is always a good idea.