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CNN Live Today

Health Officials Warning This Could be Beginning of Nation's Worst Outbreak of West Nile Virus

Aired August 07, 2002 - 13:06   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Health officials are warning this could be just the beginning of the nation's worst ever outbreak of West Nile Virus. The virus has been reported in more than 30 states, almost all east of the Rocky Mountains. The situation is most dire in Louisiana, where five people have died from the mosquito-borne illness.

CNN's Ed Lavandera joins us from Baton Rouge with the latest.

Hello, Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

What people here are told to do is to take every precaution possible just to protect themselves. We are in a place called Saint James Place, which is retirement community in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, very nice grounds here. There's a lot of water and ponds. Hard to see from that vantage point.

We want to show you something else over here. Right now, there's usually one mosquito spray a month that had -- that would be done here. Since the outbreak, twice a month. Also fliers passed out to folks who live here explaining certain things they need to do to take care of themselves. This is someone's back porch here. There's a birdbath here that's usually filled with water. All of that has been asked to either be freshened up every day or removed. This person here just removed the water all together.

If you look over here, you see a couple of potted plants. And then in the tray just underneath the pot, there is just a ring of sand. And what that does is soak up all the water that usually drains out of the pots into that. I know this looks trivial and this may not seem like much, but this is what health officials here in Louisiana are urging everyone to do. Mosquitoes when they're born usually don't usually don't go very far. Wherever they are born, is usually where they usually spend all their lives.

Female mosquitoes, which are the ones that bite humans, live about 10 days, so they usually stay in the general area where they're born. So if you control the area around where you live, you have gone a long way to protect yourself. And if you can see the map that shows how widespread the West Nile virus and how quickly it moved across the U.S. It came to New York City in 1999, which was before this year the largest outbreak they had ever seen, over 60 people roughly infected, seven died. Now we're seeing 71 people infected here in Louisiana. Five people, as you mentioned, Kyra, have died here.

And there's no reason to believe, health officials say, this won't continue to spread westward.

You also see on this map that Washington State is highlighted. That's because a gentlemen who was visiting Louisiana went back home, and that's where he found out he had West Nile Virus. But officials said not to panic, because West Nile Virus can't be spread between humans.

However, the spraying teams continue to go out here in the Louisiana area, not only in Baton Rouge, but across the state. The teams have been going out night and day, spraying through neighborhoods and through different locations that might be breeding grounds for mosquitoes. That's why the state's asking for millions of dollars in help to continue these spraying techniques, which they say is crucial to control the spread of West Nile -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Ed Lavandera, thank you so much.

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