West Nile and Retractable Screens
A recent article headlined, " West Nile Turns up Here" appeared in The Clarion County News from northwestern Pennsylvania. A glance at the online news stories on any late summer day will reveal dozens, if not hundreds, of similar stories from all parts of the U.S. and Canada. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that West Nile virus has spread to all of the continental United States, all parts of Canada, Mexico and parts of the Caribbean. Since 1999, 15,000 people have tested positive for the disease, said the CDC, but since only about 1 percent of those infected develop serious symptoms the number infected is actually much higher. Most of those infected have mild or no symptoms, but the virus can cause serious lifelong health problems.
West Nile infection is caused by bites from infected mosquitoes and cannot be transmitted from person to person. Public health officials advise everyone to take steps to limit their exposure to mosquitoes, especially the elderly and those with weakened immune systems. One way to do this is to have good window and door screens to prevent mosquitoes from entering your home. Many people want the protection of screens, but also the beauty and convenience of retractable screens. Conventional coiling retractable screens might however not provide the protection you need. The spring loaded design is susceptible to blowing out of the track in a stiff breeze and popping open with either a gust of wind or when bumped.
Screen Solutions Inc has introduced the Plissé (PLEE'-say) retractable screen as an alternative to those unreliable coiling retractable screens. With a unique pleated fabric the Plissé is not spring loaded so it will not pop open. The use of tensioning lines eliminates the problem of the screen fabric blowing out of the track. In a test, the Plissé demonstrated very high resistance to wind related failure when compared to conventional retractable screens. To read the full test report, follow this link Wind and Retractable Screens. To learn more about how you can have the Plissé retractable screen click here.
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Updated: 11/19/2006