- (Reuters) - Three elderly women have died from West Nile
virus in Colorado, which leads the nation in confirmed cases of the mosquito
borne disease, state health officials said on Thursday.
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- "All the women were elderly. They cannot fight this
off and tend to succumb," said Cindy Parmenter, spokeswoman for the
Colorado Department of Health and Environment.
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- She attributed the large number of cases in Colorado
to a wet, cool spring and a hot July, which caused the mosquito population
to soar.
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- She also said the second year of an outbreak is always
harsher than the first year and Colorado is home to a particular mosquito
that easily transmits the disease.
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- There have been 111 confirmed cases in Colorado so far
this year and four deaths, including the most recent three, who died over
the past several days.
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- Of the 111 cases, 84 are West Nile fever, 12 have advanced
to encephalitis and 15 others have progressed to meningitis. (Reporting
by Keith Coffman)
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