West Nile virus detected in Syracuse mosquito pool
Utah officials have detected the West Nile virus in a mosquito pool in Syracuse. The pool tested positive on July 11, officials announced Monday. They said this is often the first indication that the virus is circulating in the community.
Eight out of 10 people infected with West Nile don’t develop symptoms. According to the Center for Disease Control, those who do may get more minor symptoms like fever, headaches, vomiting and a rash. More serious symptoms, which occur in 1 of 150 people, are inflammation of the brain, meningitis, paralysis or even death on rare occasions.
There have not been any West Nile cases reported in Utah up to this point. The U.S. has had 36 total reported cases this year, with 25 of those in Arizona.
Utah state park officials say not to disturb rock cairns
After a recent message from Yosemite National Park, Utah state park officials are telling visitors not to disturb rock cairns. Yosemite officials said cairns, or large stacks of rocks, are a sign of human impact and that visitors should knock them over as part of the park’s Leave No Trace ethics.
This is not true for every rock cairn at every park, however. Arches and Canyonlands National Parks spokesperson Karen Garthwait said ranger-built rock cairns are actually beneficial to visitors, as they mark designated trails.
Visitors are asked not to disturb or knock down rock cairns, but also to not add to them or build their own. Not only can it lead to other visitors getting lost, it can cause unintended damage to the park’s ecosystem like damaging fragile biocrusts and disturbing animal habitats by walking off-trail to gather rocks.
Rather than knocking things down, visitors should report suspicious rock stacks or sculpture gardens the same they would for graffiti. Garthwait says visitor-made rock cairns are more likely to be precariously built or grouped together like a garden.
