- Five more people have been infected with West Nile encephalitis,
state health officials said Wednesday.
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- Meanwhile, the head of the state agriculture department
said 63 horses also have contracted the West Nile virus.
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- Last year, which marked the first time the virus showed
up in Louisiana, only one person -- a man from Kenner -- was confirmed
to have contracted West Nile.
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- So far this year, 16 people have been diagnosed with
the disease.
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- "It is not over -- it is going to get much worse,"
State Epidemiologist Dr. Raoult Ratard said Wednesday. "It is in full
swing, and there is no sign it is letting up."
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- He said the state is now seeing about five new human
cases per week.
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- The mosquito-borne virus causes encephalitis, or swelling
of the brain, in horses and humans. In humans, severe cases can cause paralysis,
and extreme cases can kill.
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- The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals confirmed
one of the new cases is a 16-year-old Denham Springs boy who is hospitalized.
It is the second West Nile case found in Denham Springs.
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- The other four new cases are all women.
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- Two, ages 29 and 37, are from Slidell, and have been
discharged from the hospital. The others are a 55-year-old from Albany
who is still hospitalized and a 56-year-old from Ponchatoula who has been
discharged.
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- Four cases have already been confirmed in East Baton
Rouge Parish.
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- Ratard said the large number of horse cases concerns
him because human infections could expand just as rapidly.
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- West Nile is running rampant in birds, Ratard said.
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- Mosquitoes, though short-lived, infect birds, which then
often play host to the virus from season to season.
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- Other mosquitoes bite infected birds, becoming carriers
themselves.
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- Those mosquitoes spread the disease to other animals
and people. Some species, such as blue jays and crows, die from the virus.
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- Ratard said once five to 10 birds in a parish are confirmed
to have died from West Nile virus, the state quits spending the $50 the
test costs per bird.
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- "You know West Nile is there," he said.
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- But testing will resume during the next few weeks in
some of those locations to check on the level of infection in birds, Ratard
said.
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- Health officials still want people to report dead birds
to help identify the possible range of the virus.
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- State Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Bob Odom
said the virus has developed rapidly in the horse population, especially
in the Florida Parishes.
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- "We're seeing very high numbers in Tangipahoa and
St. Tammany, and some in Washington as well," Odom said.
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- Other outbreaks of the virus are in Cameron and Calcasieu
parishes in the southwest, and in Ascension Parish in the southeast.
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- Animal health officials also are reporting isolated horse
cases in East Feliciana, Iberia, Point Coupee, St. Bernard and Vermilion
parishes.
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- "So far we have no confirmed cases in north Louisiana,"
Odom said.
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- But he cautioned horse owners in that part of the state
to vaccinate their animals. A West Nile vaccination is available for horses
through veterinarians, Odom said.
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- West Nile virus was first diagnosed in Louisiana horses
last year, when nine such cases were confirmed.
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- "There were probably more cases out there last year,
and I would suspect there are more this year, but sometimes the disease
goes undetected by horse owners and the animal eventually gets well,"
Odom said.
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- Symptoms of West Nile virus in horses are similar to
those of Eastern Equine encephalitis.
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- The symptoms includelethargy, increase in temperature
and, eventually, the inability to stand or walk.
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- West Nile virus is fatal in about 30 percent of the horses
that contract it. Eastern Equine encephalitis has a mortality rate of 90
percent in horses.
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- http://www.theadvocate.com/stories/072502/new_wnile001.shtml
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