Prevention of West Nile Virus Despite the low risk of contracting fatal encephalitis from West Nile, this disease should not be taken for granted. Because no vaccine is available and there is no cure once it is contracted, the greatest defense against this pathogen is in proventing the infection in the first place. The Center for Disease Control has compiled a great guide to discuss how you can help with controlling West Nile in your community. While we have included an abridged version of this guide, please visit the CDC's West Nile Prevention Page for additional information and resources

To sum up the "Fight the Bite!" campaign there are three, very logical attainable goals:

• Step One:Avoid Bites and Illness
  If it is mosquito season make sure that you wear an insect repellent containing DEET, and try to wear long sleeve shirts and pants.
  


• Step Two:Clean Out the Mosquitoes From your Living Environment
  If you can keep mosquitoes out of your home you have a much better chance of even avoiding the itch of a mosquito bite. Make sure that you drain standing water around your yard and repair the screens on your windows and doors to keep the bugs from coming in.
  


• Step Three:Help Your Community Control the Disease.
  While it is relatively easy to control what happens around your home, it takes community effort to help curb West Nile on a city wide level. Help authories by reporting any dead birds that you see, see if your city/town has a mosquito control program that you can help with, or even get together with your neighborhood to clean the local park and remove mosquito breeding areas in public spaces.