New Jersey is now among the states that have seen a rise in cases of rare but potentially deadly mosquito born viruses with Eastern Aquin and sephtis detected in several mosquito pools across the state that's in Cape May 100 Monmouth Morris and Union counties along with one person infected over in New Hampshire the virus has reportedly now claimed alive while four cases of West Nile Virus have been confirmed by the State Department of Health here the most recent in Camden County officials aren't releasing details about the infected residents age location or condition and say there's no need to panic but you should stay informed for more on that we turn to Montclair State University epidemiologist Dr Stephanie Sila Stephanie Sila good to see you as always we should note that even though there is a case of this Eastern acin and sephtis it is still very rare yes absolutely so I believe right now in the entire country there have been four noted cases um and the good news about this particular virus is that yes it's very dangerous if you are infected and become symptomatic but most P most patients about 95% of people who are infected do not show signs of clinical disease so what are the symptoms I mean what should people know so they don't feel alarmist you know when they get a mosquito bite because inevitably we're going to have them the summer is still going we have a big holiday weekend coming up right so unfortunately the symptoms are sort of generic to start so they fever fatigue um you will start to if it progresses uh Progressive you can start to see some changes in that individual's behavior um again that said most people who get a mosquito bite are not going to be infected and most people who are infected are not going to develop this disease so what do you think is most important then for folks as they head outside uh and maybe to some barbecues or the beach this weekend um to to understand and to know about also how to protect themselves I mean is is regular bug spray enough or is there more that we should be doing I think the the typical what we recommend for any sort of mosquito born illness prevention um wear those deep based mosquito spray uh bug sprays right so the ones that don't have deep that might smell really pretty aren't going to protect you as well um if there's any standing water in your property you're going to want to make sure that that gets dumped that allows the larvae to regenerate we don't want that um so if you have a pool make sure that you're running that motor if you have pots tip them over you can also use some of those um Foggers in your backyard that should kill them as well um but again the other option if you aren't comfortable with de there are treated clothing that you can purchase especially if you're going hiking um long t-shirts um long pants if you can tolerate them in the heat are recommended yeah that's all good advice there was also Stephanie a fourth Case of West Nile Virus uh contracted in New Jersey I wonder just about the transmission of these viruses is it becoming more prevalent um are we actually seeing more or are we getting better about reporting it um where do we sort of stand when we look at how many cases we would typically have if at all in a season so I think that part of it is also that we're all just much more aware of the spread of viruses now particularly postco um so people are more likely to report we're more likely to report our symptoms um this year for West Nile actually hasn't been particularly bad um and for Eastern equine and sephtis the the peak was in 2019 with about 34 cases so we are still well below what we have seen in the past um that doesn't mean we should be complacent right nobody likes a mosquito bite whether you're getting an illness from it or not so do everything you can to reduce the number of mosquitos um in and around your property Dr Stephanie Silvera thank you so much as always thank you