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Katie Woolf spoke with Medical Entomologist Bill Pettit about Mosquito borne disease risk · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello, Katie Wolf and three point sixty online at Mix
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  Speaker 1: one O four nine dot com. Visitors and Territorians are
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  Speaker 1: being urged to protect themselves from mosquito bites as Murray
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  Speaker 1: Valley in cephalitis virus and the kunjin virus active activity
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  Speaker 1: have been detected in the top end and also in
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  Speaker 1: the Barkley regions. Now joining us on the line to
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  Speaker 1: tell us a little bit more about this is medical
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  Speaker 1: entomologists Bill Pettitt. Good morning to you, Bill.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie.
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  Speaker 1: How are you not too bad?
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  Speaker 2: Bill?
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  Speaker 1: Tell us a little bit more about what has been
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  Speaker 1: detected in the top end and the Barkley regions.
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  Speaker 2: Well, the top end, there's anyone who species the top
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  Speaker 2: end would know that we've got mosquitoes in quite quite
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  Speaker 2: a lot of ours, quite a lot of our seasons
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  Speaker 2: year round, and in amongst all of that, we've got
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  Speaker 2: very large active populations of wallabies, we've got water birds.
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  Speaker 2: It's a big, dynamic ecosystem. And what sometimes happens is
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  Speaker 2: viruses that affect animals occasionally come through mosquitoes and end
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  Speaker 2: up in humans. And the viruses like mb and kungin
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  Speaker 2: virus are two of those viruses that are normally a
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  Speaker 2: water bird virus, and occasionally humans in our travels and
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  Speaker 2: our camping go in close to those habitats and in
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  Speaker 2: counter of the mosquitoes that have been biting those birds
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  Speaker 2: and occasionally become infective.
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  Speaker 1: And bill are they I mean, are these viruses quite
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  Speaker 1: sort of dangerous to humans or what are some of
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  Speaker 1: the side effects.
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  Speaker 2: Marray's alien kept vitises are rare, very rare virus in humans,
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  Speaker 2: but for those unlucky enough to get it, there may
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  Speaker 2: be two cases across the top end in any given years.
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  Speaker 2: It's rare, but the ramifications of someone getting married's alien
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  Speaker 2: kept ritis can it can cause death about the court
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  Speaker 2: of the cases. It can cause a brain injury and
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  Speaker 2: a cord of cases, and probably half of the cases
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  Speaker 2: would recover quite quite fully or almost fully. But it's
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  Speaker 2: a virus in humans, but it's we're a dead end
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  Speaker 2: host for that virus. We're not. The virus isn't adapted
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  Speaker 2: to replicating in us. We don't get very by remix,
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  Speaker 2: so that mosquito's biting an then the case human case
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  Speaker 2: wouldn't necessarily become intected and intect anyone else. So it
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  Speaker 2: really is a we're a dead end host an accidental
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  Speaker 2: host for these viruses, but the ramifications can be goodness.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, And then when you talk about the Kunjin virus,
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  Speaker 1: is it more common or is it again quite a
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  Speaker 1: rare one.
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  Speaker 2: It's it's quite quite rare, and the symptoms are less
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  Speaker 2: severe than m ve jin in Australia is related to
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  Speaker 2: the more severe disease over in America, the West Nile virus,
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  Speaker 2: which is responsible for quite a lot of human illness
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  Speaker 2: and death. But over in Australia it's background levels. It's
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  Speaker 2: uncommon in humans. But what it is, it is a
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  Speaker 2: most years, but not in very high numbers. Our other
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  Speaker 2: viruses like roster river virus are far more common than
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  Speaker 2: they're coming out of animals like wallabies and dusky water
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  Speaker 2: rauts and other small small mammals.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, they go, Bill, what are the best things that
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  Speaker 1: we need to do to try and protect ourselves.
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  Speaker 2: So given that we've got an alert, we've got these
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  Speaker 2: sentinel flocks of chickens that are in various areas through
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  Speaker 2: the top end down through the barkley, and they give
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  Speaker 2: us a bit of an early warning that the virus
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  Speaker 2: is circulating, which is why I'm talking to you today.
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  Speaker 2: Gives us about a four week lead. The birds are
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  Speaker 2: far more sensitive to it than us, and as soon
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  Speaker 2: as they serra convert then we're able to give this
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  Speaker 2: notice that the viruses are circulating. But the basic precautions
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  Speaker 2: covering up at night, using repellent if you're camping. We've
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  Speaker 2: got a lot of people going out camping in the
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  Speaker 2: next few weekends. The weather's improving. We've got a long
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  Speaker 2: weekend coming up. It's just to be min call it.
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  Speaker 2: Avoid the mosquito bites, especially after dark. You've got more
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  Speaker 2: mosquitos coming in about half an hour to one hour
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  Speaker 2: after dark. Just make sure you've got mosquito cruf accommodation,
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  Speaker 2: you've got repellents. You've got maybe the repellent devices like
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  Speaker 2: thermo cells or the Bagon pulse repellents that you can
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  Speaker 2: buy in in Woolworth. They're very, very good when you're camping.
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  Speaker 2: Just generally avoid being bitten by mosquitos whenever you can.
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  Speaker 1: And Bill, are there people who are at a greater
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  Speaker 1: risk of getting these illnesses than others? Or is it
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  Speaker 1: really just I mean to put it bluntly, is it
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  Speaker 1: really just a luck thing? No?
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  Speaker 2: But really it's a luck thing. It's some people say
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  Speaker 2: they're not bitten by mosquitos, but in fact, most of
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  Speaker 2: us are bitten by mosquitos. Some people just react more
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  Speaker 2: to the bite than other people. So in general everyone,
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  Speaker 2: even if you're a long term top ender, if you're
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  Speaker 2: getting bitten by enough mosquitoes and you're unlucky enough to
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  Speaker 2: be bitten by one of these that's infected with a
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  Speaker 2: birdborn or a wallaby born virus, you may well end
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  Speaker 2: up as the accidental host and become quite ill the
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  Speaker 2: arthritic joints in the case of the Ross River. You
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  Speaker 2: can end up with like a quite quite a number
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  Speaker 2: of symptoms with any of these, any of these viruses.
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  Speaker 1: Bill, this might be a strange question, but are our animals,
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  Speaker 1: like our cats and dogs also susceptible to these viruses?
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  Speaker 2: Not so much. And if they were being accidental hosts, Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: the reservoir, especially for these for MV and qungen is
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  Speaker 2: water birds and then us as an accidental posts. It's
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  Speaker 2: an unlikely scenario and not something that's that's commonly supported.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Bill, I really appreciate you coming on this morning
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  Speaker 1: and giving us a bit more detail about this. I've
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  Speaker 1: just had an insider get in contact with me and
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  Speaker 1: asked me, are you running in cross country championships this weekend?
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  Speaker 2: Bell? Absolutely, and in the evening I'll be using repellent.
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  Speaker 1: Good on you. I know that you are a very
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  Speaker 1: fast runner, as is your daughter. As I understand, so.
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  Speaker 2: So good, I've got to target on my back. You
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  Speaker 2: can't wait for pass me.
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  Speaker 1: I love it, mate, I love a bit of healthy
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  Speaker 1: competitiveness amongst families. I'm the same in ourse. Good on you, Bill,
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  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time this morning. I appreciate it.
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  Speaker 1: That is a medical entomologist there, Bill Pettett, and he's
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  Speaker 1: also a very fast runner. For those of you out
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  Speaker 1: there that don't know