- Four St. Louis area residents have tested positive for
West Nile virus, according to preliminary reports from the Missouri Department
of Health and Senior Services.
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- The four cases involve two men, ages 42 and 61, and two
women, both 36. Their conditions were not immediately known.
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- The state health department plans to send their blood
samples to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta
for further testing to confirm the preliminary findings. State health officials
expect those results late next week.
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- Despite the recent findings, it is important to remember
that "this is a rare disease from which most people fully recover,"
said Howard Pue, chief of the state health department's Section of Communicable
Disease Control and Veterinary Public Health.
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- "We will continue to...conduct surveillance for
the virus as it moves across the state," he said.
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- Meanwhile, Kansas City health officials reported a case
of a second mosquito-borne virus.
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- An 11-year-old Kansas City girl reportedly contracted
California encephalitis from a mosquito bite in July. If that is confirmed
by further testing, the child would be the first person to have a mosquito-borne
virus in the city in more than 25 years, said Gerald Hoff, an epidemiologist
with the Kansas City Health Department.
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- Health officials have contacted the child's parents to
get another blood sample to confirm the virus. The child has since recovered,
but the blood sample still would help confirm the infection, Hoff said.
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- These latest findings came just a day after the state
health department reported that a Massachusetts woman contracted West Nile
virus while visiting the St. Louis area last month.
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- Also, the Kansas City Health Department has reported
that four birds found dead recently in the city have tested positive for
West Nile virus.
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- Three of the birds were found along Main Street at 37th,
83rd and 90th streets. A fourth was found at 115th Street and Baltimore
Avenue.
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- State health officials will continue to monitor the number
of dead birds found in the Kansas City area but will no longer accept bird
samples from Jackson County because the virus' presence has been confirmed.
The state will continue accepting samples from surrounding counties.
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- West Nile virus is found in wild animals and birds. Crows
and blue jays are especially susceptible. Mosquitoes transmit the virus
from bird to bird, or to other animals such as horses. Mosquitoes also
can transmit the virus in humans. It is not contagious, and the virus does
not affect dogs or cats.
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- In the last week, more than 300 dead birds have been
found between State Line Road and Prospect Avenue and from the Missouri
River to 75th Street. Health officials have said that there was not enough
virus activity to warrant spraying for mosquitoes at this time.
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- Kansas has not reported any human cases of West Nile.
But health officials confirmed Wednesday that the virus was detected in
three dead birds found in Sedgwick, McPherson and Republic counties. Also,
a third horse in Rice County has contracted the virus.
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- While some Kansas Citians were concerned by the arrival
of the virus in the city, several who live near where dead infected birds
have been found weren't too worried on Wednesday.
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- Karen Johnson and her niece, Monica Houston, were among
the concerned.
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- "I freaked out a little when they said they found
a dead bird on 83rd and Main, but it's all so new, I'm not sure what to
make of it," said Johnson, who lives nearby at 84th Street and Boone
Boulevard.
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- She won't allow her elderly mother to sit on the porch
at night because of it.
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- Houston also is taking more precautions, like wearing
long sleeves and staying out of her yard in the evenings and early mornings.
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- "I don't want to take any chances," she said.
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- Leon Munday, however, is not overly concerned. He was
out bicycling with his three daughters and their young friend Wednesday
along the Trolley Track Trail near 83rd and Main streets.
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- "I'm not sure there's much I can do about it,"
said Munday, who lives near 65th Street and Ward Parkway. "I just
wish the city was more aggressive about spraying for mosquitoes."
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- Similarly, Boyd Davis is taking the news reports in stride.
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- "I knew it was coming. It was inevitable,"
said Davis, who lives at 36th and Wyandotte streets. "But I'm not
terribly worried."
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- The Star's Lynn Horsley contributed to this report.
- http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/3865354.htm
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