- ST. LOUIS (UPI) -- Missouri
and Texas on Monday reported their first probable deaths from the West
Nile virus, bringing to at least 13 the number of suspected fatalities
nationwide.
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- Of the 11 confirmed cases, eight occurred in Louisiana,
two in Mississippi and one in Illinois. Nationally, more than 250 people
have contracted the disease.
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- St. Louis health officials said preliminary test results
from a private lab indicate a 75-year-old woman had the disease when she
died Aug. 7. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is running
more tests to confirm the result. Five other people have contracted the
disease in Missouri and are recovering.
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- A 52-year-old Houston woman hospitalized since Aug. 8
died on Friday and health officials said preliminary tests indicate she
had West Nile. Specimens from that case also have been submitted to the
CDC for confirmation. So far this summer, 25 virus cases have been reported
in Texas.
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- West Nile is transmitted by the Culex mosquito and is
believed to have spread as far west as Colorado since it was first detected
in the United States in 1999 in New York. Less than 1 percent of those
bitten by infected mosquitoes come down with a serious case of the disease.
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