The buzz on West Nile virus in Southern California

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Don’t panic, but don’t relax either.

That decline in West Nile infections is over, as the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday: West Nile cases on rise in Southern California.

Now KPCC offers a look at what can happen when an otherwise healthy person contracts the illness. Jack Raney of Upland was in a coma for weeks after developing the disease. For more recountings of people who suffered the disease, there’s a blog, appropriately titled West Nile Survivor Stories.

Here’s the San Bernardino Sun’s account of infections in that area, a podcast from the Riverside Press-Enterprise, and the Orange County Register’s take on the rise in cases.

A KABC story blames foreclosures for part of the increase, saying that neglected pools offer an excellent breeding environment for the insects.

For a look at West Nile activity in California by county, check out the California West Nile Virus website. It includes not just county-by-county totals of human cases, but also those found in horses, birds, sentinel chickens and squirrels. Plus loads of other data -- and information on how to be a ‘West Nile Watcher.’

-- Tami Dennis