According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the most effective method to prevent West Nile infection is to wear insect repellent, long-sleeved shirts and pants, and take steps to control osquitoes indoors and outdoors, including emptying stagnant water in planters, birdbaths, and trash containers.
Symptoms can include fever and flu-like illness but while people older than 60 years old are at greater risk, severe illness can occur in people of any age. Those with the highest medical risk are those with medical conditions that include cancer, diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease and who have received organ transplants. The CDC reports one in 10 people who develop severe illness affecting the central nervous system die.
The latest Massachusetts statistics are a marked increase over previous years. Last year, there were six reported cases in the Bay State and 17 in 2016. In 2012, Massachusetts reported 33 cases, its greatest number of cases in a single year, since data collection began in 1999.