Results tagged “westnile”

The Orange County Health Care Agency has reported the first 2008 death in California resulting from the West Nile virus infection. The victim was a 72-year-old woman from Buena Park. Deanne Thompson, spokesperson for the agency told LAist that Southern California is seeing the biggeset increase in West Nile since 2004 when there were 62 cases in the OC alone. This year, the county has reported 26 cases not including "four asymptomatic dramatic blood donars." As to why there is an increase, officials do not know, but with recent home foreclosures and for other economic reasons, pools are not being used or maintained, therefore the still water is a perfect nesting ground for mosquitoes.

Photo by nopantsxris via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr

Two weeks ago today, a motorist on Wilshire Boulevard came to an intersection and found herself behind somebody who was preparing to turn left. Under normal conditions this would mean slowing down and waiting but since it was a cyclist, the motorist accelerated and screamed “Get out of the road!” The incident escalated and resulted in the arrival of Beverly Hills Police Officer Prenesti who greeted the cyclist by yelling “You idiot!” It’s clear...

Photo by toastycakes via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr

Was last night's earthquake cause to some full moon effect madness? Breaking News: "A man from the San Fernando Valley has contracted this year's first human case of West Nile virus in Los Angeles County, health officials said Thursday." (NBC4) A female suspect has been shot by police in a Sylmar Bank robbery. (KABC) "A SWAT standoff in the parking lot of a Taco Bell ended early this morning with the arrest of a...

Photo by ellwoodite via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr

Tonight is National Night Out. Do you know where your neighborhood night out is taking place? Bugs! Mosquitoes with West Nile at the Sepulveda Basin. A Japanese man is arrested at LAX for trying to sneak in rare butterflies. Black Widows are charged with killing homeless men. But these are no typical widows and LA's Homeless Blog is not happy. It's all about ordinances over at blogging.la: New Spay/Neuter Ordinance for Dogs & Fixed-Gear...

LAist has noticed that the West Nile frenzy has reached a fever pitch, especially in the Valley, with many calling for the city to remove all standing water across the 498 square miles of our fine municipality. For a cash-strapped town like Los Angeles, this seems unlikely.

The utter unpredictability (and potentially huge impact area of tremors) heightens the fear factor. Until now. So LAist doesn�t know which is worse�knowing credible evidence that one be on the way, or complete blissful ignorance.