A cool breeze whispers across your yard as you sit comfortably in a lawn chair watching the waning sun. The fantastic reds, oranges, and yellows light up the evening sky and the sibilant rustling of the leaves on the trees couples with melodic burbling of a nearby brook. Nothing could improve on this dulcet moment, but something could definitely intrude—such as the cacophonous buzzing of a mosquito exploring the sanctum of your inner ear.

In recent years, that zinging buzz has graduated from a mild annoyance to a very real health concern. While the summer and fall seasons are characterized by picnics, baseball, and water sports, it’s also the season of mosquitoes; and since 1999, mosquito season has also become synonymous with West Nile Virus (WNV). The mosquito’s buzzing intrusion into your otherwise perfect summer day need not strike fear into your heart. With a few simple precautions, you can prevent WNV from affecting yourself, your family, and your community.

A Longer History Than You Might Think

While WNV is a relatively new disease in the United States, in the worldwide community it has been around for quite a while. Since 1937—when the first reported human case of WNV was discovered in a woman from the West Nile District of Uganda—WNV has been spreading throughout the world. Since the first human case, WNV has spread across Africa, Eastern Europe, West Asia, and the Middle East. Eventually, the disease found its way to the Eastern United States. No concrete evidence points to exactly when WNV arrived on American shores, but scientists from the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) agree that it first appeared in the early summer of 1999.