- CHICAGO (Reuters) - Two more
West Nile virus deaths were reported on Friday, including one in Illinois
that was the first outside the U.S. South this year, as the national death
toll from the mosquito-borne illness rose to 11.
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- The other new fatality occurred in Louisiana, the epicenter
of the West Nile outbreak where eight people have now died, state health
officials said on Friday.
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- They said 62 new cases had been found in Louisiana, raising
the total there to 147. Nationally, about 230 cases have been reported,
officials said.
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- In Illinois, the state health department said tests had
determined that a 67-year-old man from a western suburb of Chicago died
of West Nile virus on August 10.
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- They said Illinois now has nine confirmed human cases
of West Nile virus, while neighboring Michigan reported its first two probable
infections, both in elderly men.
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- The Louisiana death was a 76-year-old woman in Livingston
Parish in the southeastern part of the state. Officials warned people to
take precautions against mosquitoes, but predicted the number of West Nile
cases would grow.
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- "We still have a long way to go in terms of the
warm season in Louisiana," said David Hood of the state health department.
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- In neighboring Mississippi, 48 West Nile cases have been
reported, including two deaths.
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- There has been growing concern about the spread of West
Nile virus, which produces flu-like symptoms and can be deadly for the
elderly and people who suffer from chronic illnesses.
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- Human cases of West Nile virus have been reported in
at least a dozen states, mostly in the South and East, and the disease
has been discovered in birds and animals as far west as Colorado and, as
of Friday, Wyoming.
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- The Wyoming Department of Health said on Friday a horse
who died this week was infected with West Nile virus. The horse, which
died of encephalitis, was from Torrington, Wyoming, just over the border
from Nebraska where the disease has also infected animals.
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- UP TO 1,000 CASES PREDICTED
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- Dr. Lyle Petersen, a West Nile expert with the CDC told
reporters on Thursday that based on past years there could be as many as
1,000 human cases of West Nile virus this year, though predicting the number
would be very imprecise.
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- Late on Thursday, the New York City Department of Health
and Mental Hygiene said an 84-year-old man from Queens tested positive
for West Nile virus and was in critical condition after developing encephalitis,
the first human case in that state this year.
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- West Nile is common in Africa and Asia but was unknown
in the Americas until 1999 when an outbreak killed seven people in New
York. Health officials have since said the virus would take permanent hold
in the United States and would spread gradually to most if not all of the
country.
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- Most human infections are mild, and less than 1 percent
of people who get bitten by an infected mosquito get severely ill. Symptoms
include fever, headache, body aches, occasional skin rash and swollen lymph
glands. More severe infection is marked by neck stiffness, muscle weakness
and coma.
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