West Nile cases keep rising

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http://www.infectiousdiseasenews.com/200309/frameset.asp?article=WestNile.asp

 

Breaking News & CommentaryWest Nile season hits hard in new areas this year;

cases keep risingAt least 21 deaths have been linked with West Nile virus this

year. Especially disturbing are the new cases in Colorado.

 

September 2003

 

West Nile has struck some new states hard this year, with a significant surge in

Colorado, Texas and Louisiana — and at least 10 deaths attributed to the virus.

 

As of the last week in August, more than 700 people were reported to have West

Nile virus (WNV) infection and 17 deaths were reported. This figure includes a

concentration of more than 250 people from Colorado, according to Julie

Gerberding, MD, director of the CDC.

 

There are some things about the epidemic this year that set it apart from last

year’s outbreak, Gerberding said in a teleconference. The median age of people

affected by the virus has dropped from 55 years last year to 45 this year. In

addition, all cases of WNV infection have been attributable to mosquito bites,

whereas a number of cases were linked with blood transfusions last summer.

 

Screening blood supply

Gerberding said the CDC has been screening the blood supply since July for WNV

and pulling any units suspected to be infected. Since last September, the FDA

encouraged industry to develop blood donor screening tests, since symptoms are

usually mild.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In mid-June 2003, blood-testing centers began testing blood supplies for WNV,

using experimental test kits that the FDA has evaluated and permitted to be

used. The FDA also developed guidance to industry recommending procedures to

assess donor suitability and to retrieve and quarantine potentially contaminated

blood products.

 

“So we are doing what we can to protect the blood supply in this country,” she

said.

 

Of concern, Gerberding said, is the increase in cases from last year, and the

number of cases concentrated in one state in particular — Colorado.

 

“Last year at this time you could see that Colorado had no human cases of West

Nile, and actually no West Nile Virus activity at all. Whereas, this year it’s

leading the country in the number of new cases.” According to Gerberding, the

CDC anticipated the rise in cases based on the movement of West Nile last year.

 

“Although at this time last year, Colorado did not have any evidence of West

Nile activity, by the end of the season, there was activity,” Gerberding said.

 

“And so it meant that by the end of the year, some animals, and mosquitoes or

birds in Colorado had been exposed to the virus. As bird migration happens and

the cycle speeds up, it’s not surprising that we would see infection there. And

because it’s a new state, it may follow the pattern we saw last year, where, for

example, Louisiana was a new state for West Nile activity, and so they had a

particularly difficult summer with a large number of cases.”

 

New Mexico had no cases as of Aug. 7, 2002 and had two cases of human WNV

infection as of that date this year. “And although Ohio had the most cases last

year by the end of the West Nile Virus season, it also has had a recent increase

in the number of cases, suggesting that it’s certainly not going to be immune

from the problem. And we’re very concerned about the fact that there may be more

cases on the horizon for a number of the cases that were harder hit last year,

not just those states that are new to the map,” Gerberding said.

 

Horses in the lead

The number of infections reported among horses “far outpaces” last year’s

totals, and more than twice as many samples of mosquitoes are showing evidence

of infection, Gerberding said.

 

The numbers are also changing with stunning speed she said, noting that during

the last week of July none of the mosquito samples tested in New Jersey were

positive — however a week later all were.

 

 

 

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