Don Adams, OH

W. Nile hits neighbors; city's response faulted
Monday, September 26, 2005
Harlan Spector
Plain Dealer Reporter

Cleveland's Old Brooklyn section has suffered its share of misery from the West Nile virus. Now two men on the same street have been sickened and people were asking Sunday where the city Health Department has been.

Greg Nawalaniec, a 45-year-old carpenter, has been ill in bed for weeks with West Nile virus, said his partner, Billy Singell. They live across from Don Adams, 72, who was recovering after being hospitalized six days with the illness.

Nawalaniec "was so bad yesterday that I had to call EMS, and they took him to Lutheran" Hospital, said Singell. "This is his 18th day. He's been in the hospital four times for hydration . . . It's the beast of all flus."

The neighborhood on the city's southern tier was hit hard in a West Nile outbreak in 2002. At least three residents died.

Singell and Tim Adams, who lives with his father, Don Adams, questioned why the city had not sprayed for mosquitoes. West Nile is transmitted by bites from infected mosquitoes.

Singell had contacted Councilwoman Emily Lipovan Holan. She harshly criticized city health officials Sunday. Holan said she asked the Health Department to spray pesticides after residents complained about an invasion of mosquitoes in recent weeks.

"People can't even sit on their porches," she said.

Holan said she received no response. The councilwoman was appointed four months ago to represent Ward 15, which includes Old Brooklyn. She said health officials should have done more public service announcements to warn residents, given the neighborhood's history of West Nile illness and the summer's dry, hot weather conditions, which nurture its spread.

"Residents of Ward 15, they're getting second-class treatment from the Department of Public Health," Holan said.

Health Director Matt Carroll said the city has not sprayed for mosquitoes for two years.

"It was taken out of the budget at budget-cutting time," Carroll said.

He also said the level of West Nile activity - taking into account positive tests in people and in trapped mosquitoes - would not justify spraying the neighborhood.

The city has recorded 13 or 14 human cases in other areas. Carroll said he knew of only one confirmed case in Old Brooklyn, presumably the case of Don Adams.

Councilwoman Holan said she considers the second case bona fide, even if confirmation has not been reported to the Health Department.

Singell said the Cleveland Clinic diagnosed his partner's virus Sept. 20.

Carroll, responding to criticism of the Health Department, said the city mailed notices about West Nile to residents in utility bills and also put the word out in news releases.

He said the city applies larvacide in watery areas where mosquitoes lay eggs.

Singell and Tim Adams said they thought mosquitoes were breeding in an algae-covered swimming pool a few doors down.

On Saturday they shared concerns with the owner, who on Sunday was draining the pool.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

hspector@plaind.com, 216-999-4543