"I remember bits and pieces of people coming in and out of the room, all gowned up with masks," the Grand Island man said. "That night they did a spinal tap and determined I had meningitis."

During September 2002, after spending more than a week in the Intensive Care Unit of Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, Hanna was diagnosed with West Nile virus, the flu-like, mosquito-driven illness that first appeared in this country in 1999. While 80 percent of people infected with West Nile never show symptoms, one case in 150 strikes with the severity that knocked Hanna down.

"Most of the people who got as sick as I did did not survive, but most of them were elderly or very young -- and most of them now have physical or mental limitations," said Hanna, who did not return to his job as administrations manager for Goodyear Chemical in Niagara Falls for three months.

In 2002, nine Erie County residents were diagnosed with West Nile Virus. One of them, a 76-year-old City of Buffalo man, died of the illness. Since then not one human case has been reported, according to the Erie County Health Department.

"Don't forget there are people who can contract the disease and never show any symptoms," said Peter J. Tripi, supervising public health sanitarian for vector control in Erie County. "It's the people whose immune system is compromised who are at risk, and we're hoping we make a difference by targeting these mosquitos with larvacide. Are we going to get a positive human? It's always possible."

Don't let mosquitos sneak up on you, health officials warned. West Nile Virus is here, and people need to take precautions.

"I think people always need to be vigilant about mosquito-born disease," said Wayne Gall, regional entomologist with the New York State Department of Health, "especially people who are high risk, or who have occupational exposure that gets them outside a lot during times of the day when mosquitoes are most likely to bite: dawn, dusk, and sometimes even during the night.

"West Nile virus does occur in New York and Erie County," Gall said. "There's always risk of transmission."

The Accidental Human

Some species of mosquitoes -- those who carry West Nile, Culex pipiens and Culex restuans -- do not like us. These bird-biting bugs would much prefer a blue jay or crow for their evening meal. That's why the virus circulates between mosquitoes and the wild bird population. The virus is transmitted to humans when a mosquito bites an infected animal and then bites a human.

Hanna figured he was bitten by a mosquito sometime during the summer of 2002 when he was walking his dog Samson near his Baseline Road home. Hanna would regularly walk his dog just before dusk -- a time mosquitoes traditionally get hungry.

"We just assumed that I got bit while I was walking the dog," Hanna said. "I usually don't have a problem with mosquitoes. I play golf quite a bit and never had big bites."

There were other signs that West Nile was lurking. Several weeks before Hanna fell ill, he found a dead crow in his driveway. Dead and dying birds like crows, blue jays and raptors are harbingers of the virus.

Around Labor Day 2002, Hanna began to feel sick with the typical flu-like symptoms that mark West Nile: fever, fatigue, muscle ache, headache.

"I felt like somebody beat me up," he said, "and I had a really bad headache. Eventually, I couldn't even get out of bed. I was weak and miserable. I didn't feel like eating. I didn't feel like drinking."

Hanna returned to work just before Thanksgiving of that year, and then only for an hour a day. He jokingly calls his bout of West Nile a great weight-loss program, although he has regained the 80 pounds he lost during the illness.

"That was one of the things in my favor," Hanna said. "I was big enough to afford to lose all that weight. I had a ton of people praying for me. If anyone doesn't believe in the power of prayer, just ask me."

Buzz Busters

It's midmorning inside the vector control lab on the campus of Erie County Medical Center, where a refrigerator is adorned by pictures of magnified mosquitoes and ominous ticks. Open the refrigerator door, and see vials and vials of petrified ticks -- next to a six-pack of Diet Coke. Last year, more than 100,000 mosquitoes were identified in this lab.

"What attracts mosquitoes?" Tripi, the county sanitarian, asks. "Carbon dioxide. When we trap them, we use dry ice, which emits carbon dioxide. Some people say they never get mosquito bites. That's probably because they emit less carbon dioxide."

Which explains why lawn mowing can turn a human being into an all-you-can-eat buffet. Picture the huffing and puffing that accompanies many outdoor activities. Add moisture and warmth -- the other mosquito attractors -- and the pesky insects will respond in droves.

As part of the county's mosquito control program, Tripi and his staff have targeted more than 800 sites for larvaciding.

"These are areas where we would find populations more at risk," he explained. "Adult homes, hospitals, day-care centers, elementary schools, parks, playgrounds. It's the people whose immune system is compromised who are at risk, and we're hoping we make a difference by targeting these mosquitoes with larvacide. It gives us protection for three months."

The numbers indicate the program is working. In 2002, for example, four percent of the mosquito population was Culex pipiens and Culex restuans. Today, it's running one percent, according to county sanitarians.

Another larvacide program -- "Operation SWAT" -- may be the reason that Erie County has seen no human cases of West Nile virus in three years. Launched in 2001, the program places larvacide in all storm receivers in 13 towns and villages. The goal is to keep mosquito eggs from hatching, thereby reducing the numbers of virus-carrying mosquitoes.

"The conditions that existed in 2002 -- the warmer than usual winter, a wetter than normal spring and a hotter, drier summer -- that's when water in the storm receiver catch-basins starts breeding mosquitoes," said Glenn Robert, public health sanitarian for Erie County.

"Unnatural water is far more important than the pond in the back yard or the wetland two miles away," Robert added, "including the bucket in your back yard, the tire in your garage, the gutter on your house that is filled with leaves."

"Mosquitoes are opportunistic," said Gall of the state health department. "Based on a case analysis, the CDC says those at greatest risk for contracting West Nile are people over the age of 50, and that may have something to do with the fact that people's immune systems are not as efficient as they age."

Gall knows his bugs. He'll not only tell you the species name, but their dietary preferences. Ask him about the banana connection, how mosquitoes appear to be drawn to those who consume the potassium-rich fruit.

"It's well-established in the literature that different people have different levels of attractiveness to mosquitoes and whether that's because of individual skin chemistry or biochemistry, I just don't know," Gall said. "Different people give off different chemicals. Whether bananas are part of that mix, I just don't know."

So how can we protect ourself against West Nile virus -- and mosquitoes in general? For one, there is no vaccine against West Nile, although one for horses was approved for distribution in February 2003.

As for chemical repellents, DEET has been found to repel mosquitoes. Just make sure you buy the right concentration, Gall said. For children, from 5 to 12 percent DEET. For adults, no higher than 24 or 25 percent.

"DEET is DEET," Gall said. "The rest is packaging and marketing."