Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Encephalitis Outbreak in Louisiana
Aired August 15, 2001 - 09:26 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Health officials have confirmed an outbreak of encephalitis in Louisiana. Seven cases there have been confirmed. Seventeen other patients are now being tested for the disease. Affected areas of the state are being sprayed now for mosquitoes. These insects often feed on infected birds and spread the West Nile and other viruses that can cause encephalitis.
Joining us now with more on this is our medical news correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
HARRIS: It seems like we were just talking about this same issue with West Nile Virus.
GUPTA: Right. Exactly. And now they've confirmed seven cases that are being caused by a virus down in Louisiana and 16 cases total of encephalitis. We don't know yet, Leon, if these are West Nile Virus or another called St. Louis Virus. Both of them are called flaviviruses. The name's not important but they're both similar sort of viruses and they can cause encephalitis, especially in the elderly. About three to 15 percent of the time it can be that serious in the elderly.
As with West Nile, St. Louis encephalitis, what the epidemiologists actually think is causing this one in Louisiana, is also transmitted by mosquitoes, mosquitoes that bite birds and then bite humans.
So all the same preventive advice as with West Nile applies to St. Louis encephalitis as well.
We may know as early as tomorrow whether this is St. Louis or West Nile.
HARRIS: But what's the difference between the two?
GUPTA: Well, St. Louis and West Nile are very similar viruses. A couple of important differences. One is that St. Louis has been around in this country since 1933. West Nile is a relative newcomer, only since 1999. One of the big differences is that St. Louis does not usually kill the birds. West Nile does kill the birds and this is important because a lot of times you'll see huge bird die-offs before you'll start to see human cases, as we did in New York back in the summer of 1999.
HARRIS: Is there a correlation, though, between birds dying and people dying?
GUPTA: That's what they...
HARRIS: Between the two diseases?
GUPTA: That's what they find. With West Nile, they certainly think there is. West Nile will tend to kill the birds so if you see a bunch of birds dying, they say report that to the health officials because that could actually be West Nile Virus and you might see it in humans soon.
HARRIS: All right, thanks for the advice.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, as usual.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
