Nile Virus Kills Two More

Nile Virus Kills Two More

NewsMax.com Wires
Saturday, Aug. 17, 2002

CHICAGO – A 67-year-old man died of West Nile encephalitis in August, the state public health director reported Friday. It is the first fatality from the virus this year outside of the South. Also, a Louisiana man died, raising the nationwide death toll to 11.

Federal authorities predicted more than 1,000 human cases nationwide.

Four new human cases of West Nile virus have been confirmed in Illinois.

"Unfortunately, it is my duty to report the first fatality in our state due to West Nile virus illness," said Dr. John Lumpkin, state public health director. "The man, who had slipped into a coma after being admitted to the hospital, died on Aug. 10."

The 67-year-old man was admitted to a suburban Chicago hospital Aug. 4 complaining of fever, stiff neck, and change in mental status and fell into a coma. He also had other health problems.

The next day, a 42-year-old Will County woman reported similar symptoms. She and an 80-year-old Cook County man who fell ill on Aug. 8 remain hospitalized for West Nile encephalitis. A 39-year-old Chicago woman also is hospitalized with the virus.

Lumpkin, who heads the statewide West Nile Task Force, said Illinois was doing all it can to monitor West Nile virus activity and urged communities to launch aggressive efforts to control mosquitoes.

8 Deaths in Louisiana

The death of a 78-year-old Livingston Parish man was the eighth in Louisiana, where the mosquito-borne disease has hit hardest. The state also reported 62 new human cases, bringing the total this year to 147 in easily the worst outbreak in U.S. history.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta confirmed at least 160 cases nationwide and nine additional deaths in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Public health officials in Colorado, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa and anxiously waited Friday for the first human cases of West Nile to appear in their states after the mosquito-borne virus infected horses.

An 84-year-old New York man remained hospitalized in critical condition after developing encephalitis from the West Nile virus, the first human case in New York City this year. The virus first appeared in North American in New York three years ago.

New York, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri and Ohio were added to the CDC's list of states with confirmed and suspected human virus cases this week. "We can expect more cases, and potentially a lot more cases," said Dr. Lyle Petersen, an epidemiologist with the CDC. "We're still on the upslope of the epidemic curve ... the bottom line is we'll be seeing a lot more cases in the coming weeks."

States that have no suspected human cases are monitoring animals. West Nile virus has sickened 67 horses in Minnesota, three in Colorado, two in Iowa and two in Wisconsin and has now killed one horse in Wyoming.

The Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services was investigating the possible death of a 10-year-old quarter horse on a farm near Newburg from West Nile virus.

"Finding this disease in a horse tells us that there are mammal-biting mosquitoes in the area and that some are infected with West Nile virus," communicable disease expert Linda Glaser told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "These same mosquitoes could bite people."

Mosquitoes can spread the virus from infected birds to horses, people and other mammals. There is a vaccine for horses but not people.

Crows, ravens and blue jays are the most susceptible to the virus. Most people infected show mild flu-like symptoms such as headache, tiredness and nausea, for three to six days.

Only about one in 150 infected humans develop potentially fatal encephalitis or meningitis after a mosquito bite. People over 50 are more susceptible.

The virus has been found in every state east of the Rocky Mountains, plus Colorado and Wyoming.

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