One more reason you should protect yourself from mosquitoes

Not many of us worry much about West Nile Virus, which first hit Nebraska in 2002, despite the fact it causes a few deaths and a few hundred clinical infections in the state every year.

Still, it's a good idea to take precautions to do everything we can to prevent being infected, which occurs only by being bitten by a female mosquito carrying the virus.

Now a new virus, chikungunya, has been found in the state.

Unlike West Nile, it isn't found in mosquitoes in the United States, and deaths from the disease are rare, but it does cause severe joint pain, fever, rash and muscle pain.

There have been 27 confirmed cases of chikungunya in the United States, in eight other states as well as Nebraska.

The Nebraska victim is a female under 25 who recently traveled to Haiti, where officials believe she got the virus. She was hospitalized, but has been released and continues to recover.

Both diseases are a good reminder just how many diseases mosquitoes carry, and that it's a good idea to protect yourself from mosquito bites whenever possible.

The Southwest Nebraska Health Department reminds residents of the following steps to help reduce your chances of an infection:

* Limit time outdoors during dusk and dawn

* Wear long sleeve shirts and keep your pants on

* Check all screens for holes

* Be sure to use insect repellant with DEET and repeat every 4 hours

Eliminating the potential for breeding grounds around your home will certainly help reduce the mosquito menace around your property.

* Replace water in bird baths every 3 to 4 days

* Drain children's wading pools when not in use

* Drill a hole in tire swings or recycling containers so water can drain out

* Check for clogged rain gutters and clean them out (roof gutters can produce millions of mosquitoes each season)

* Remove discarded tires, and other items that could collect water

* Clean vegetation and debris from the edges of ponds

* Dispose of cans, plastic containers, ceramic pots or similar water-holding containers

* Turn over wheelbarrows

* Aerate ornamental pools or stock them with fish

* Clean & chlorinate swimming pools not in use (watch for stagnate water on the pool cover)

We recently noted in this space that the lowly mosquito is nature's most dangerous creature, killing 725,000 people a year, mostly through malaria, but also with dengue fever, yellow fever and encephalitis -- the latter sometimes a complication of West Nile virus.

If you take Dad camping or fishing this weekend, and as summer outdoor activities continue, don't forget to protect everyone from those pesky mosquitoes.