Burdett woman who contracted West Nile speaks out

All it took was one mosquito bite, and Ida Waldner was the most sick she’s ever been.

“Just behind my right ear, I remember having a mosquito bite and it hurt. That’s where my lymph nodes are really sore, a lot of aces and pain,” says Waldner.

On August 16th she felt sick. She had a fever, aches and pains and developed a rash she thought might be measles… or worse.

“I felt so nauseated all my muscles hurt so bad, my legs from here down, I could barely walk so that’s what I was most concerned about. I actually thought I had M.S or something,” says Waldner.

After several blood tests, a low white cell count and 10 days off work, Waldner was told she’s the first person in the province to contract the West Nile virus this year.

“We’ve had 21 cases of West Nile reported in Alberta this year, all except one of them are residents of southern Alberta. One was from Edmonton but they had visited southern Alberta,” says Chief Medical Officer of Health in Alberta, Dr. James Talbot.

4 out 5 five people who contract West Nile will have no symptoms at all. The 20 percent that do suffer the flu like illness recover to perfect health.

For Waldner, the non-neurological West Nile has been lingering for over a month but she is improving slowly.

“I can’t do a lot, I get very tired. I’ve had two colds now since my immune system is so low,” says Waldner.

The more severe neurological strain starts out the same and can become life threatening.

“In it’s much more severe form, it can result in confusion, loss of consciousness and eventually death,” says Talbot.

Waldner says her experience with west nile has been scary- she was wearing bug spray the day she was bitten- but never thought to put it behind her ears.

With summer winding down, she hopes people realize they are still at risk.
“Hopefully people put on mosquito spray and are aware they are out here.”

21 cases is the highest recorded number of the West Nile virus in Alberta since 2007 when 320 people fell ill.

Last year, 10 people contracted the illness and one man died due to West Nile.

So far this year no deaths have been reported.

“For this particular mosquito, its anytime we’ve had an extended warm period and so the southern part of the province has been experiencing that since August so it’s the most dangerous time because there is just a lot more mosquitoes out carrying the virus,” says Dr. Talbot.

Alberta Health says it’s important people follow the basic steps to protect themselves.

Be sure to wear bug spray containing deet.
Wear long sleeves and pants.
Avoid peak times mosquitos will be out, early dawn and dusk.
Make sure to leave your screens closed so mosquitoes can’t get in your house and bite you when you are sleeping.