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West Nile Virus Spreading Faster Than Ever

Aired August 08, 2002 - 14:30   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: It is showing up earlier, moving fast, and spreading to more places than ever. One hundred thirteen people have contracted West Nile virus. More than half of those cases have been confirmed in just the past eight days alone. The latest place where it has spread, the District of Columbia, which is confirming its first-ever human case.
CNN medical correspondent Rea Blakey is standing by in Washington with more on the outbreak.

Rea, what do we know about this first-ever case in D.C.?

REA BLAKEY, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We know that it is a 55- year-old man who was already ill. He was undergoing chemotherapy for leukemia. He is the first person in the national's capital to be infected with West Nile virus at all this year ever.

He is in stable condition, we're told, at the National Institutes of Health. That's a clinical center in Bethesda, Maryland.

This finding is prompting D.C. officials to go door to door. They are informing residents on how to combat the spreading virus, and they are recommending dumping any standing water around properties, wearing insect repellent containing the chemical DEET.

Efforts to kill mosquito eggs in the area with a larvacide are also being stepped up. Crews are working around the clock. But Washington health officials say they will not be straying neighborhoods.

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TED GORDON, D.C. HEALTH ASSURANCE: Spraying is not effective in a densely populated area, and it places other people at risk who may have respiratory dysfunction. And we feel that our larvaciding is a good strategy. We've used it since 1999; it's worked very effectively. We also have information that when the use of sprays are distributed in our community, they are for very isolated areas, and they can get in our water distribution system in terms of surface water, and they are also harmful to our fish and other aquatic life.

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BLAKEY: West Nile virus is present in 34 states and the District of Columbia.

Since arriving in the United States, in New York City in 1999, it spread to states along the Eastern Seaboard, to the South, and is now heading west. So far, no documented activity west of a line that extends roughly from Winnipeg, Canada, to Houston, Texas.

These figures are always being updated, so -- so far this year, we are told, there are 113 confirmed human cases, even though we are going to see that it adds up, actually, to 112. The breakdown at this point, 71 from Louisiana, 28 in Mississippi, Texas has 12, Illinois has one. We have also added D.C. to the list, and we're told there's a case in Alabama that also will probably be added, which would bring the total to 114, if we have all our figures right.

The total deaths for this years so far: 5, all of those people from Louisiana.

Now, according to the data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they have been able to analyze so far that the median age of humans contracting West Nile virus is 55, and that is younger than in previous years. But the CDC says it does not know why just yet.

Sixty percent of this year's cases have occurred in men, with illness and symptoms beginning as early as June 10.

Of course, right now, Louisiana remain the state that's hardest hit by the spreading virus. Twenty CDC officials are there working with local health officials. They are trapping birds, checking mosquitoes and they're also actively searching for patients with West Nile fever. That means flu-like symptoms, but not the most severe infection that can cause brain inflammation.

For perspective's sake, Fredricka, the virus causes severe symptoms in 1 in every 150 people infected. Most people will notice no symptoms, or they will either get a mild fever or some flu-like symptoms.

Back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much, Rea Blakey, from Washington.

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