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West Nile reaches Northern California
Jul 24 2004 12:00AM By

STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
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Bird tests positive in San Jose as virus claims first fatality for state in SoCal

West Nile virus claimed more of California on Wednesday as the state documented its first human fatality to the virus and Santa Clara County reported the first bird death to the disease in Northern California.

Santa Clara County health officials announced Wednesday that a dead crow found in East San Jose had tested positive for the mosquito-borne virus, the San Jose Mercury News reported Thursday. Preliminary positive tests from June 28 were confirmed by labs at the University of California, Davis, which does the testing for the state Department of Health Services.

Because they have found no other cases in birds, humans, horses or mosquitoes - the only four species known to contract the disease - officials speculate that the crow may have eaten an infected insect that was brought north by a traveling vehicle.

..."I think the important take-home message is that West Nile virus is here. It's not just in Southern California any more," Nelson said. "People would be prudent to really practice prevention and really take it seriously."

...There have now been 35 human cases of West Nile statewide this year. The virus has now been detected in 17 of California's 58 counties. It appeared in the state last year for the first time.

...The state's public health officer compared the conditions in California to last year's worst-in-the-nation outbreak in Colorado, which reported about 2,000 human cases.

"We're in for a significant West Nile season in California," said state public health officer Dr. Richard Jackson. "I would be surprised if this is the last death we have in the state."

The state health agency on Thursday added eight new counties to its list of locations where birds have tested positive for West Nile, Miller said. The new counties are Butte, Kings, Mendocino, Sacramento, San Diego, San Joaquin, Tehama and Tulare. West Nile had previously been found in Imperial, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.

As of press time, the Department of Health Services had not yet added Santa Clara County to the list.

The disease has sickened nearly 200 people across the country so far this year, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is no antidote or known vaccine for humans.

The CDC has reported four other West Nile deaths so far this year - two in Arizona and one each in Texas and Iowa.

Nevada reported its first suspected human case of West Nile on Thursday.

Last year, fewer than 100 birds tested positive in California, but already this year there have been 980 bird positives, Miller said.

That is typical of how the virus has spread across the country - showing up with just a few cases at first, followed by a significant increase, Miller said.

The disease first appeared in 1999 in New York and has since expanded westward. It has killed more than 560 people in the United States in the past five years.