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American Morning
House Call: West Nile and Paralysis
Aired October 07, 2003 - 09:40 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: There is a new symptom of West Nile Virus, first revealed in small numbers last year, looking again to be on the rise again this year. The virus can cause a polio-like paralysis.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta picks it up from there in our "House Call" this morning.
Sanjay, what gives here?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Yes, well, first of all, it's important to point out right at the top that most people who get West Nile virus will never even know that they had it. In fact, only about 20 percent of people develop any symptoms at all. These are the symptoms people have been hearing about for quite some time now. They include fever, headaches, body aches, skin rash and swollen lymph glands.
Bill, a very small percentage of people, about one in 150 people or so, will develop more profound symptoms. Take a look at the list there, headaches, high fever, neck stiffness, disorientation, tremors, muscle weakness and paralysis. It's these last two symptoms that have caused some concern. These paralysis-type symptoms have caused some people to actually dub this the new polio. Remember polio was also caused by a virus, causing weakness. There have been about 18 cases now, all of them centered in northern Colorado, almost sort of a cluster of cases. Most of the cases of this sort of paralysis being focused on that area of the country.
This is a higher number. There were only a few cases of paralysis associated with Vest Nile Virus over the past several years. They're not sure if the numbers have actually increased because more people are reporting it, or because the numbers are going up, but this is obviously something infectious disease experts are going to be watching quite closely -- Bill.
HEMMER: There is news about weaknesses in the screening process for blood donations. What's happening on that?
GUPTA: Well, really interesting, Bill. First of all, it's a really expensive thing to try and screen all the blood for West Nile Virus. The numbers estimated about $300 million a year to try and do that sort of thing. In 2002, last year, about 23 people were reported to have acquired West Nile Virus from blood transfusions. Those numbers decreasing now. This year, only a couple cases over the past several months this year; 617 potential cases were flagged down and prevented. So certainly the process of taking some triumph in that particular number.
But it is an expensive process. There is something known as false positives as well, which means the blood comes back as positive for West Nile Virus, when in fact you didn't have to. The problem with that is a lot of potentially useful blood gets tossed because of that sort of thing. So the system still does have some weaknesses as you pointed out. Needs some time before it can all get straightened out.
HEMMER: One other question here that many people want to know. Is there any way to know right now how this season could compare to season a year ago?
GUPTA: You know, no surprise, Bill, the numbers have been increasing over the past several years. '99 first appeared in your neck of the woods in New York City, about 62 cases then. This year, the 6,292 cases, 133 deaths. That's so far. There is about 4,500 cases last year, Bill, so if you sort of plot these numbers, they have been gradually increasing.
Take a look at the states there. The hardest hit states this year a little bit different than previous years. The Great Plains and the Western states. Hardest hit in previous years, it was mainly Eastern board states.
The virus is literally -- if you track this thing sort of as an investigator, it's sort of interesting, it's made its way from the East to the West, very much following the migrate migratory patterns of birds.
HEMMER: As you point out year to year, true.
GUPTA: Thank you, Sanjay.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 7, 2003 - 09:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: There is a new symptom of West Nile Virus, first revealed in small numbers last year, looking again to be on the rise again this year. The virus can cause a polio-like paralysis.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta picks it up from there in our "House Call" this morning.
Sanjay, what gives here?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Yes, well, first of all, it's important to point out right at the top that most people who get West Nile virus will never even know that they had it. In fact, only about 20 percent of people develop any symptoms at all. These are the symptoms people have been hearing about for quite some time now. They include fever, headaches, body aches, skin rash and swollen lymph glands.
Bill, a very small percentage of people, about one in 150 people or so, will develop more profound symptoms. Take a look at the list there, headaches, high fever, neck stiffness, disorientation, tremors, muscle weakness and paralysis. It's these last two symptoms that have caused some concern. These paralysis-type symptoms have caused some people to actually dub this the new polio. Remember polio was also caused by a virus, causing weakness. There have been about 18 cases now, all of them centered in northern Colorado, almost sort of a cluster of cases. Most of the cases of this sort of paralysis being focused on that area of the country.
This is a higher number. There were only a few cases of paralysis associated with Vest Nile Virus over the past several years. They're not sure if the numbers have actually increased because more people are reporting it, or because the numbers are going up, but this is obviously something infectious disease experts are going to be watching quite closely -- Bill.
HEMMER: There is news about weaknesses in the screening process for blood donations. What's happening on that?
GUPTA: Well, really interesting, Bill. First of all, it's a really expensive thing to try and screen all the blood for West Nile Virus. The numbers estimated about $300 million a year to try and do that sort of thing. In 2002, last year, about 23 people were reported to have acquired West Nile Virus from blood transfusions. Those numbers decreasing now. This year, only a couple cases over the past several months this year; 617 potential cases were flagged down and prevented. So certainly the process of taking some triumph in that particular number.
But it is an expensive process. There is something known as false positives as well, which means the blood comes back as positive for West Nile Virus, when in fact you didn't have to. The problem with that is a lot of potentially useful blood gets tossed because of that sort of thing. So the system still does have some weaknesses as you pointed out. Needs some time before it can all get straightened out.
HEMMER: One other question here that many people want to know. Is there any way to know right now how this season could compare to season a year ago?
GUPTA: You know, no surprise, Bill, the numbers have been increasing over the past several years. '99 first appeared in your neck of the woods in New York City, about 62 cases then. This year, the 6,292 cases, 133 deaths. That's so far. There is about 4,500 cases last year, Bill, so if you sort of plot these numbers, they have been gradually increasing.
Take a look at the states there. The hardest hit states this year a little bit different than previous years. The Great Plains and the Western states. Hardest hit in previous years, it was mainly Eastern board states.
The virus is literally -- if you track this thing sort of as an investigator, it's sort of interesting, it's made its way from the East to the West, very much following the migrate migratory patterns of birds.
HEMMER: As you point out year to year, true.
GUPTA: Thank you, Sanjay.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
