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CNN Live Today

Health Official Discusses Chicagoland West Nile Affliction

Aired August 07, 2002 - 13:10   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Illinois has now reported its first human case of the West Nile virus. Joining us to talk more about that from Chicago and the outbreak and how people can protect themselves, Dr. John Lumpkin. He's with the Illinois Public Health Department.
Dr. Lumpkin, hello.

DR. JOHN LUMPKIN, ILLINOIS PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT: Hello.

PHILLIPS: Tell us about this 22-year-old woman affected by the West Nile virus.

LUMPKIN: Well, she is a student who was in Illinois for doing a summer job. She was living in a northwestern suburb -- suburban area of Chicago and working in a western suburban area. She began to get ill. She went home to Maryland, and she was diagnosed as having West Nile fever.

PHILLIPS: Does this surprise you, 22 years old. Usually those effected are the elderly, those with weak immune systems, little children. 22 years old.

LUMPKIN: Well, it doesn't surprise us. I think what was surprising about this case is is that she was a student. She must have had scientific background because she thought she had West Nile and ask specifically for the test.

Now, what we have seen from the evidence is that only about 1 out of every 200 people who are bitten by a mosquito that has West Nile gets the encephalitis, the serious form of the disease. Most people will have a very mild illness like she had.

PHILLIPS: How is she doing? Is she fully recovered?

LUMPKIN: Oh, she's doing just fine. In fact, she was never hospitalized. The disease ran a short course. And she's just doing perfectly fine now.

PHILLIPS: So how concerned are you right now about West Nile in southwestern Illinois?

LUMPKIN: Well, I think we're concerned about West Nile throughout the state. We've been monitoring very closely. We have over 100 pools of mosquitoes that have been positive. We have pretty close to 200 birds. We believe that we are seeing West Nile activity in birds and mosquitoes throughout the state. We felt that it was just a matter of time before we saw our first human case. We believe that we will see more human cases as the season goes on.

PHILLIPS: Dr. John Lumpkin, I know you are going to stick around. Thank you very much. We are going to talk to the doctor again.

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