Posted on 08/21/2002 1:04:17 PM PDT by July 4th
Madison - Two Wisconsin residents have tested positive for the West Nile virus, the first human cases discovered in the state, officials said Wednesday. Neither case was fatal.
A 23-year-old woman from Winnebago County tested positive for the disease after becoming ill Aug. 2 with a fever, headache and weakness. She was recovering at home.
An 83-year-old man from Adams County was hospitalized Aug. 13 with a fever, extreme weakness and encephalitis. He was still hospitalized Wednesday at Meriter Hospital in Madison but is improving, the state Department of Health and Family Services said.
Samples from both people will be sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to confirm test results. The state refused to release their names, citing privacy laws.
"We're just seeing the virus sort of cross over to the human population," said Linda Glaser, West Nile virus surveillance coordinator with DHFS.
Transmitted to humans by mosquito bites, West Nile virus can cause fever, body aches, brain swelling, coma, paralysis or death.
Glaser said state officials are not sure how the two people contracted the disease, though it is likely they were infected near where they live. State officials are working with their physicians and local health departments to gather information on how they may have been exposed to the disease.
Glaser said the state continued to urge residents to follow basic precautions to minimize their chances of being exposed to the disease. They include avoiding going outside at dusk and dawn when mosquitos are most active and wearing long sleeves and pants to minimize the chance of being bitten.
Still, less than 1% of those bitten by mosquitoes infected with the disease will become seriously ill, Glaser said. Most infected with the virus will have no symptoms or very mild symptoms.
The West Nile virus first appeared on the East Coast in 1999. It was discovered in Wisconsin in 2001. So far, the disease has killed horses in two counties and birds in at least 16 other counties. But the two human cases were the first reported in Wisconsin.
Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control has reported 12 U.S. deaths this year from West Nile, eight of them in Louisiana. As of Tuesday, at least 250 human cases of the virus had been reported to the CDC this year in 11 states and the District of Columbia.
More complete coverage of this story will appear online later today and in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in the morning.
Have the liberals blamed West Nile on President Bush yet?
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