West Nile Spread through Organ Transplants

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Second Probable West Nile Case Found in California

Tue Sep 10,10:30 AM ET

 

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A second probable case of West Nile virus (

news - web sites) has been identified in the Los Angeles area in

less than a week, but health officials on Monday said they were

confident that the Texas resident acquired the potentially fatal

disease in that state.

 

 

 

The adult male patient was visiting a relative and became ill the

day after he arrived, the Los Angeles County health department said.

 

On Friday, officials said it was " highly probable " that a Los

Angeles-area woman had contracted West Nile according to early tests

which, if confirmed, would mark the first US West Coast case of the

mosquito-borne disease.

 

The woman, who suffered from meningitis last month but has since

recovered, had no known exposures to the virus from mosquito bites,

travel or blood transfusions, although it is assumed that she was

exposed to the virus by a mosquito, health officials said.

 

Of six cases followed by the Los Angeles County health department,

two are listed as " probable, " one is " indeterminate, " and three have

come back negative.

 

West Nile is common in Africa and Asia but did not appear in the

United States until a 1999 outbreak that killed seven people in New

York.

 

This year's outbreak of the disease began in southern states

including Louisiana and Mississippi and has been slowly migrating to

the north and west.

 

California officials said they have yet to identify the virus in

mosquitoes, birds or other animals.

 

Officials emphasized that the risk of becoming ill from a mosquito

bite is very low, noting that less than 1% of bites from mosquitoes

infected with West Nile cause severe disease.

 

This year's US death toll from West Nile stands at 43 people in 14

states, according to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention ( news - web sites). The CDC also said there have

been 985 human cases of West Nile infection nationwide so far this

year.

 

Last week, US health officials said a fourth person who became ill

after receiving a donated organ from a Georgia car crash victim

tested positive for the virus, strongly suggesting the disease can

be transmitted by means other than a mosquito.

 

The CDC said it was still trying to determine whether the organ

donor, whose organs also went to three other people who tested

positive for West Nile, became infected through a mosquito bite or

blood transfusions before organ donation.