Thought you might be interested in this. It has not been in the local papers (at least not yet).

A woman that I work with has contracted St. Louis Encephalitis (SLE) after a camping trip in the B.C. interior. She is seriously ill and in the hospital. Apparently SLE is closely related to WNV, with both viruses transmitted through mosquito bites. There are very few reported cases annually in the U.S. of SLE (and even fewer in Canada). Apparently less than 1% of human infections with SLE result in recognizable disease. Although the very young, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems are most at risk, this woman is, to my knowledge, otherwise healthy and around 35 years of age.

Further to this report of a work colleague contracting St. Louis Encephalitis via a mosquito bite, I attach the following story about B.C. patients being tested for West Nile Virus, which is closely related to SLE. Officials are saying that WNV has not been confirmed yet, but SLE apparently *has* been confirmed in the aforementioned colleague.

http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=01e3fe77-ad3d-4ae2-ad95-7405c6de36a0