- LOS ANGELES (Reuters)
-- West Nile virus has claimed its first death in California, evidence
of the disease's unrelenting march across America since entering the country
through New York City five years ago.
-
- State health officials say a 57-year-old Orange County
man, who was being treated for encephalitis since mid-June, died on June
24.
-
- "We knew that the virus had reached California,
but this is the first real evidence of a more intense transmission. Now
we basically have transmission of the West Nile virus from coast to coast,"
Dr. Ned Hayes, a medical epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, told Reuters.
-
- California health officials, who did not identify the
man killed in June, said the disease had been detected for the first time
in eight other counties and that 35 people across the state have tested
positive for West Nile.
-
- "The loss of this man is a sad reminder of the seriousness
of West Nile virus," Dr. Richard Jackson, California's public health
officer, said in a statement. "Although the risk of serious illness
is low, I urge residents to take steps now to protect themselves from mosquito
bites and this virus."
-
- West Nile virus was first detected in America in New
York City in 1999, most likely arriving in an infected person or bird on
an airplane from another country. Hayes said the virus most closely resembles
a strain that had been circulating in Israel in 1998.
-
- Since then, the mosquito-borne disease has spread quickly
throughout the United States, resulting in serious outbreaks further and
further west.
-
- "While the virus has been moving across the country
for the last 5 years the intensity has also moved westward," Hayes
said. "But there is continued transmission in eastern areas, as well,
where it was first detected, so it looks like the virus is not going away,
and it's still something that needs to be dealt with for the foreseeable
future."
-
- Hayes said that with elimination of the virus unlikely,
the CDC was focused on trying to control its spread. Americans were advised
to avoid being outdoors when mosquitoes were most active -- generally in
the two hours after dusk -- to use insect repellent and to eliminate standing
water.
-
- About 80 percent of people infected with West Nile virus
develop no symptoms. The remaining 20 percent suffer the acute onset of
fever, headache and muscle and joint aches. About 1 percent of victims
contract a sever neurological disease, such as meningitis or encephalitis.
-
- Copyright © 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited
without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable
for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance
thereon.
-
- http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=5761579
-
-
- Comment
- From Hugh Joseph
- 7-24-4
-
- Hi Jeff -
-
- I have lived in CA for over nearly 30 years. I have never
ever seen a mosquito here. California's dry desert climate is not favorable
for mosquitoes. They prefer damp, humid tropical and sub-tropical climates
with lots of stagnant pools of water for breeding. Have you ever visited
the Caribbean? Take a trip there sometime and you will see what mosquitoes
are really all about. They are intent on spraying Californians so the ruse
is this West Nile scare. No one that I know has even seen a WN virus carrying
mosquito. What does it look like? These so-called Health Officers can make
any claim they want. How does anyone know the truth? The public has no
way of defending itself against lying by these individuals. Who benefits?
Not the mosquitoes that aren't, not the sprayed public, only the ones making
the spray. Great!
|
