Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

More West Nile Virus Cases Reported

Aired September 07, 2001 - 08:03   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: Our top story this hour: the West Nile virus. It has claimed one life this summer and has been discovered in another state now.

Maryland confirms its first case of the mosquito-borne virus. Health officials say West Nile caused encephalitis in a 72-year-old Baltimore man.

Medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more on this -- Sanjay, good to see you.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Let's talk about encephalitis. How did the man -- how did it cause encephalitis, and can that definitely be deadly?

GUPTA: Right. Well, Kyra, that is one of the biggest concerns about West Nile virus. While a very, very rare problem, encephalitis, it can be deadly.

What it essentially means is that you have infection of the brain. And as we know, West Nile virus is transmitted by mosquitoes that have bitten birds, and subsequently bite human beings. The virus gets into the human beings and sometimes can replicate within the body and get into the brain and cause this -- what sometimes can be a very deadly infection.

As you pointed out, Kyra, it did affect a 72-year-old man, and that's pretty -- that would be the sort of population that we'd be looking at -- elderly people, people who have sort of weakened immune systems. So not that surprising that it affected someone of his age -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: OK. So maybe someone in our age range, we really don't have to worry. But what about, say, your parents, my parents. Yours are in Michigan; mine California.

What are the chances of this spreading throughout the United States?

GUPTA: Right. Excellent question. We actually talked to the officials at the Centers for Disease Control about that. And they said they wouldn't actually be surprised if it spread throughout the entire United States, because it is spread by birds, and birds certainly can fly all over.

But they also urge caution in terms of worrying about this. Most people -- and when I say most, I mean, you know, 95 percent -- might get the virus and never even know that they had it. We're talking about a very small percentage of people that will have any symptoms whatsoever, and you may have mild symptoms -- flu-like symptoms, fever, headache, things like that. And that even a smaller percentage, you know, fractions of a percent that will actually get symptoms like encephalitis, which we have seen with this gentleman.

PHILLIPS: Dr. Sanjay Gupta -- thanks so much.

GUPTA: Thank you, Kyra.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.