LAPLACE — “Attention: Mosquitoes that can carry encephalitis have been found in your neighborhood, and we need your help.”

Yellow pamphlets with that message were placed on residential doors within a mile of the Belle Terre subdivision this week, a response to five mosquito samples collected in LaPlace testing positive for West Nile virus.

A single sample contains up to 100 mosquitoes, according to Sam Stines, chief biologist for Mosquito Control Services. The five infected samples originated near the southern end of Belle Terre, stretching back toward U.S. 51.

St. John Mosquito Control also detected positive cases of the West Nile Virus in Lucy.

Encephalitis, the medical term for inflammation of the brain, is a potentially fatal symptom of West Nile virus impacting approximately 1 out of 150 infected people, according to the CDC.

Luckily, 8 out of 10 people who contract West Nile virus never experience symptoms, according to Stines.

Stines said 1 in 5 infected people develop cold or flu like symptoms coupled with fatigue. To minimize effects of the virus in St. John the Baptist Parish, the Mosquito Control Services office in Reserve asks residents to monitor standing water that could turn into mosquito breeding grounds.

“It takes one week for mosquitoes to mature from eggs to adults,” Stines said. “It doesn’t take long to walk around your backyard once a week and clean out gutters, toys and birdbaths holding water.”

Wearing light colored clothing and insect repellent when outside after dusk also provides protection.

According to Stines, LaPlace residents who received pamphlets can expect increased activity from Mosquito Control Services. Personnel are monitoring the area, sending out mosquito trucks, spraying drainage systems and treating water breeding grounds.

Stines said a variety of traps collect dozens of samples around St. John the Baptist Parish each week, and the traps that see the most activity dictate where services are focused.

According to Stines, West Nile virus is brought to the River Parishes through blue jays, black birds and birds of prey. Mosquitoes contract the virus by feeding on birds, and prevalence of the virus increases with dry conditions.

“One phenomenon we get nervous about is when there is a long, hot drought with little rain, as we had over the month of May,” Stines said. “That’s when we see an amplification of West Nile because birds and mosquitoes are essentially living together, utilizing the same water sources.”