- TAMPA, Florida (Reuters)
- West Nile virus, a potentially fatal mosquito-borne disease, was discovered
in another heavily populated Florida county when state health officials
determined that a chicken in Hillsborough County was infected, the St.
Petersburg Times reported on Saturday.
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- Hillsborough County, home to Tampa, has nearly one million
residents. The virus was found in neighboring Pinellas County, where 921,000
people live, last week.
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- West Nile virus, which has infected at least 10 people
in Florida since July and killed a Georgia woman in August, has been found
near Miami, Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.
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- With evidence of the virus throughout the state, the
virus is likely present even in counties where infected animals and people
haven't been found, a state health official told the Times.
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- Officials have advised Floridians and visitors to the
state to avoid mosquitoes by staying indoors or covering up around dusk
and dawn.
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- West Nile virus causes an inflammation of the brain
known as encephalitis. It can't be spread from person to person. Elderly
people and young children are the most at risk.
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- The virus was discovered in Uganda in 1937 and has since
turned up in the Middle East, Europe and western Asia. It has killed at
least eight people since first appearing in North America in 1999, when
62 cases were reported in the New York City area. There is no known cure.
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