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CNN Saturday Morning News

West Nile Virus Sweeps Louisiana

Aired August 03, 2002 - 08:04   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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: And now to a frightening story, a deadly virus that has claimed four victims in the past few days. The mosquito borne West Nile Virus is sweeping the state of Louisiana. The governor there has declared a state of emergency and is asking for more federal money to spray the state.

Fifty-eight people have been infected in Louisiana and the virus has spread to neighboring states.

Now, let's go right to CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen, who's joining us with much more on what could become the largest West Nile outbreak in the U.S.

Elizabeth, I know a lot of people are a little scared right now with all the mosquitoes out there. Certainly this is the worst time of year for mosquitoes. Are there symptoms that people should be looking for, you know, looking for? Because it's almost impossible not to be bitten in some states, to stay completely away from mosquitoes. They even can get into your house, you know?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, it is almost impossible. As a matter of fact, I was talking to a friend who's from Louisiana this morning and she said they, the mosquitoes just come to us. Sometimes you feel like there's nothing you can do. And so there are some symptoms you can look for.

But before I talk about the symptoms, I want to say one thing that's very important. If a mosquito that has West Nile Virus bites you, you have actually a very, very low chance of getting the disease, and an even lower chance of dying from it. I think people sometimes have this vision that if you get bit by a mosquito, you're a goner, and that is not the case.

Here what we're seeing is that workers in Louisiana, as well as states really all across the United States, do basically what's surveillance work. Here they're looking at dead birds and they collect the dead birds and then they analyze them to see if they have West Virus. Because if you find birds with West Nile Virus in an area that means that the people need to start worrying. The birds are often sort of this warning sign that you can look for.

Now, Catherine, you mentioned symptoms. Let's talk a little bit about what some of the symptoms are of, first, of the mild infection of West Nile Virus and then of a more severe infection. For mild infection, you would see fever, headaches, body aches, rash, swollen lymph glands. And often that's all someone will get, especially a younger person, because their system can fight off a more severe infection, which are much more common among the elderly.

A severe infection the signs would be a higher fever, neck stiffness, disorientation, coma and paralysis.

Again, those kinds of more severe symptoms and death are much more common among older people. The four people who have died in Louisiana were all over the age of 50 -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: How successful are they at treating it once you've been diagnosed with it?

COHEN: They can be pretty successful, especially if it's an earlier case, in other words, if you catch it before those symptoms go on to become severe. I think one of the problems is that as you can see with these symptoms, they look a lot sort of like the flu. And so you might not know that it's West Nile. So if you do have those symptoms, it's definitely worth going to your doctor.

CALLAWAY: So, you know, I think everyone out there wants to know what they can do to prevent it.

COHEN: Right. There are some simple steps to prevent it. The first thing is to just keep mosquitoes out of your house, make sure that nets are patched up and that sort of thing.

The second thing is get rid of pools of stagnant water. You can see there, that's what a pool of stagnant water looks like. You can get thousands of mosquitoes in just a couple of days with a pool of stagnant water and you often don't think about things. For example, if your children have left toys out there, that could be a source of stagnant water.

The third thing that you can do is use, is wear long clothing and use a mosquito repellent that includes DEET. And that's very important, again, especially for the elderly.

CALLAWAY: You know, you mentioned earlier that the chances of someone getting this are relative small. But how small are they? You know, we're seeing these cases increase, Elizabeth. It is a bit frightening.

COHEN: Well, you are seeing the cases increase and four, you know, four deaths in Louisiana. But think about all the mosquitoes that are in Louisiana and think about all the people that are in Louisiana. The four deaths, as tragic as they are, it is a very small number compared to how many people are out there and how many people get bit by mosquitoes. I mean the chances are very, very low that you're actually going to even get sick and certainly even lower that you're going to die.

Having said that, West Nile Virus has been identified in 27 states in the United States. Last year there were nine deaths. CALLAWAY: Elizabeth, there's no way to know unless you develop the symptoms whether the mosquito bite -- I know if you get a red bite from a mosquito, that that definitely has the West Nile Virus. You literally just have to wait for symptoms, right?

COHEN: Exactly. This isn't like rabies where you can go find the dog and test the dog. You're not going to find that mosquito. That's not going to happen.

CALLAWAY: Of course.

COHEN: So you're right, you have to wait for the symptoms. And, again, it's just sort of flu like, fever and headaches and that sort of thing. But given that it's late summer, if you live in a state like Louisiana, where West Nile Virus has been found, it's worth going to your doctor. Don't just wait it out.

CALLAWAY: Yes, don't wait. That's the key point there.

Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much for being with us.

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