August 29, 2012– HEALTH – One
of the worst outbreaks of West Nile virus to ever hit the United States
continues to expand, with 66 deaths and 1,590 illnesses reported as of
Tuesday, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. Cases have jumped 40 percent nationwide since just last
week, the agency added. Cases have now reached their highest level since
the mosquito-borne virus was first found in the United States in 1999,
agency officials said in a Wednesday press briefing. While almost all
states have reported at least one case of West Nile illness, over 70
percent of cases have come from six states — Texas, South Dakota,
Mississippi, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Michigan. The outbreak has hit
hardest in Texas, where nearly half (45 percent) of the total U.S. cases
have been reported. “The number of people reported with West Nile virus
continues to rise,” said Dr. Lyle Petersen, director of the CDC’s
Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases. “We have seen this trend
in previous West Nile epidemics, so the increase is not unexpected,” he
added. “In fact, we think the reported numbers will get higher through
October.” According to Peterson, of the cases reported so far, 56
percent are what is called neuroinvasive disease, when the virus enters
the nervous system causing conditions such as meningitis or
encephalitis. The remaining reported cases (44 percent) are
non-neuroinvasive. “These numbers represent a 40 percent increase of
last week’s report of 1,118 total cases and 41 deaths,” Petersen said.
These numbers can be somewhat misleading since most cases of West Nile
are non-neuroinvasive and are mostly unreported, the CDC said. That
means that the number of unreported cases probably far exceeds reported
ones.
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