- ATLANTA (UPI) -- The nation's
death toll from West Nile virus was at least 160 in 2,946 cases as of Friday,
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
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- Illinois led the nation with West Nile deaths at 41,
followed by Michigan with 28 and Louisiana with 15.
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- The mosquito-borne disease is believed to have infected
the nation's blood supply and two companies have started testing a chemical
they hope will sterilize blood, killing any viruses and bacteria, including
West Nile.
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- The new technology is being tested by Cerus Corp. of
Concord, Calif., and V.I. Technologies of Watertown, Mass.
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- Cerus has won permission in Europe to sterilize platelets,
a component of blood, but would still need permission from the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration before the process could be put into widespread
use in the United States.
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- West Nile also has taken a toll on the U.S. bird and
horse populations. Officials at the Milwaukee County Zoo said their facility
has been the hardest hit.
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- Dominic Travis, a veterinarian at Chicago's Lincoln Park
Zoo and a member of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians, said
that West Nile has turned up in at least 35 species and possibly as many
as 70, including a lizard called the crocodile monitor. More than 100 zoos
participated in the survey.
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- The Milwaukee zoo has lost eight Humboldt penguins to
the virus and 12 others have shown symptoms.
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- In Canada, where there at least one person has died of
West Nile, the Toronto Zoo has lost two koalas on loan from the San Diego
Zoo.
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