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Purdue Web site takes aim at West Nile

By BETH STUTSMAN
Journal & Courier
October 9, 2006

On the Net
Purdue: www.entm.purdue.edu/publichealth

CDC: www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/virus.htm

INDOH: www.in.gov/isdh/healthinfo/westnile/index.htm

With two recently reported deaths in Indiana attributed to West Nile virus Purdue entomologists launched a Web site to help people protect themselves against this and other insect-borne diseases.

The Indiana State Department of Health has reported 39 human cases this year of West Nile virus, which is carried by mosquitos. Two of those cases earlier this month were fatal -- one each in northern Porter and Allen counties.

One human case was reported in Clinton County Sept. 25. The patient recovered, having "more of a mild type," Clinton County health administrator Craig Rich said. He said the patient, a Clinton County resident, could have contracted the virus outside the county.

Other Web sites also provide useful information about West Nile virus and other diseases transmitted by insects, such as those hosted by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and one run by INDOH. But Catherine Hill, assistant professor of entomology, said there was a need for something more.

"We found the CDC's Web site is complicated and detailed, targeted toward health professionals," Hill said. She and John MacDonald, an entomology program assistant, worked to create a site that is useful to health professionals but easy enough for the general public.

"It's not necessarily more (information), but really focused -- directed to the broader reader out there," MacDonald said.

The site, which averages 100 hits per week, tells how to prevent diseases carried by insects common to the United States like mosquitoes, ticks, lice and fleas. The site also covers bedbugs and stinging insects. It includes a glossary, diagrams and full-color pictures of important insects and ticks.

The diagrams and accompanying information can be downloaded and printed on 8-and-a-half by 11-inch paper.

Senior medical entomologist Michael Sinsko with INDOH, who gave the Purdue professors feedback, feels the site stands on its own and adds to material already on the Internet.

"It's written in such a way that it can be understood by the average person, and yet is technically correct and accurate," he said. "There's a lot of information out there written by scientists that's also technically correct, but is in a language that is best understood by other scientists."

Hill sent out 550 surveys to various people in Indiana before deciding to create a Web site including: INDOH, county extension agents, county, city and town officials, pest control agencies and others she thought may have an interest in insect-borne diseases.

She said it became clear that most people prefer to use the Internet to get their information and that they wanted lots more information about the insects that transmit diseases and the diseases themselves. Plus they wanted to be able to go to a Web site where they could quickly find the information without being referred to other sites.

RJ Beck, an environmentalist who works for the Tippecanoe County Health Department, said he also gave the professors some feedback on the Web site.

"It's not something I would use everyday," he said, noting he already has a lot of knowledge on the subject. "I think it will be an essential tool to educate the public."

While he hasn't used the Web site since its official launch on Sept. 27, he does plan to use its information in the future to make brochures to give to the public at places like the Tippecanoe 4-H County Fair.